CSF February 2023: World news

Cardinal George Pell, 1941-2023

Australian Cardinal George Pell, prefect emeritus of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, passed away at the age 81 on Jan. 10 in Rome. Born in 1941 in Ballarat, a town in Victoria, he was ordained in 1966. Cardinal Pell served for many years as Archbishop of Melbourne and then Sydney before Pope Francis appointed him as a member of the Council of Cardinals and then to lead the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy.

Pell visited the Archdiocese of San Francisco and St. Patrick’s Seminary twice recently, once in Dec. 2021, where he spoke at the Seminary and Star of the Sea Catholic Church in San Francisco and again in June of 2022 for a sacred liturgy conference hosted by St. Patrick’s Seminary. His body laid in state in Rome at the Church of Santo Stefano degli Abissini inside the Vatican, and a funeral Mass was celebrated for him at St. Peter’s Basilica on Jan. 14. He then had a funeral at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, Australia, and was laid to rest on Feb. 2. ■