UPDATE 12.55pm:
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Ballarat Catholic Diocese will hold a mass for Cardinal George Pell on Thursday after his death in Rome.
Bishop Paul Bird said Pell would have met and interacted with many people both within the Catholic community, and generally in the community.
Bishop Bird said there would be priests who served at the same time as Pell, parishioners and even those involved with education while he was director of Aquinas College before it was taken over by Australian Catholic University who would be remembering him.
"Having grown up in the area, gone to school and then of course, he was a priest of the Diocese here before moving to Melbourne and then to Sydney," the Bishop told The Courier.
"So quite a few years interacting with many people in Ballarat.
"Although he did have some good deal of controversy and arguments with various people, he did make a lot of friends and I am sure they were saddened by his death."
READ MORE:
Bishop Bird said Pell was keen to be engaged with the people outside of the Catholic community.
"He offered whatever views he could that he thought would be helpful and had quite wide interests."
Bishop Bird said he was personally saddened when hearing of Pell's death on Wednesday.
"For my own contacts with him, he was always most courteous and pleasant to speak with," the Bishop said.
"I've got that sadness, hearing of his death."
Bishop Bird said he wanted to offer his sympathies to Pell's family.
"Through the various controversies, and particularly through his time in prison, that was a very difficult time for them," Bishop Bird said.
"I was pleased that the high court acquitted him of the charges so that meant he could at least spend what turns out to be the final stage of his life more peacefully."
PREVIOUSLY:
Cardinal George Pell has died in Vatican City, aged 81.
Cardinal Pell, the former Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, died on Tuesday evening, AAP has confirmed.
He was the Vatican's top finance minister before he left in 2017 to stand trial in Australia for child abuse offences.
Cardinal Pell was in 2018 convicted of molesting two teenage choirboys in the sacristy at St Patrick's Cathedral while he was Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996.
Pell always maintained his innocence and his convictions were quashed in a unanimous decision by the High Court in 2020.
Father Edward Moloney, the administrator of Ballarat's St Patrick's Cathedral where Cardinal Pell served as a priest, said the parish would commend his soul to God and his merciful judgment.
IN THE NEWS
"We pray in thanksgiving for all the good that he did," Father Moloney told AAP.
"As with all our people who die, we remember the words of the scriptures - it is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead."
Vatican sources told Reuters Pell died from a cardiac arrest.
- with AAP
Affected by this story? There is help available.
You can phone the Ballarat Centre Against Sexual Assault, in Sebastopol, on 5320 3933, or free-call the crisis care line 24 hours on 1800 806 292.
Or phone Lifeline on 13 11 14, the Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380, or Relationships Australia on 1300 364 277.
Have you tried The Courier's app? It can be downloaded here.