Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria Domenica Mazzarello (2003–2023)
Orders
Ordination
16 December 1966 by Gregorio Pietro Agagianian
Consecration
21 May 1987 by Frank Little
Created cardinal
21 October 2003 by John Paul II
Rank
Cardinal priest
Personal details
Born
(1941-06-08)8 June 1941
Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
Died
10 January 2023(2023-01-10) (aged 81) Rome, Italy
Buried
St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney
Previous post(s)
Titular Bishop of Scala (1987–1996)
Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne (1987–1996)
Archbishop of Melbourne (1996–2001)
Archbishop of Sydney (2001–2014)
Member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers (2013–2018)
Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy (2014–2019)
Education
Corpus Christi College, Melbourne
Pontifical Urban University
Campion Hall, Oxford
Monash University
Motto
Nolite timere (Latin for 'Be not afraid')
Signature
Coat of arms
Ordination history
History
Priestly ordination
Ordained by
Gregorio Pietro Agagianian
Date
16 December 1966
Place
St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
Episcopal consecration
Principal consecrator
Frank Little (Melbourne)
Co-consecrators
Ronald Mulkearns (Ballarat)
Joseph O'Connell (Melbourne aux.)
Date
21 May 1987
Place
St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne
Cardinalate
Elevated by
Pope John Paul II
Date
21 October 2003
Episcopal succession
Bishops consecrated by George Pell as principal consecrator
Denis Hart
9 December 1997
Joseph Grech
10 February 1999
Christopher Toohey [it]
30 August 2001
Julian Porteous
3 September 2003
Anthony Fisher
3 September 2003
Terence Brady
16 November 2007
Michael McKenna
26 June 2009
Peter Comensoli
8 June 2011
William Wright
15 June 2011
Styles of George Pell
Reference style
His Eminence
Spoken style
Your Eminence
Informal style
Cardinal
George PellAC (8 June 1941 – 10 January 2023) was an Australian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as the inaugural prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy between 2014 and 2019, and was a member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers between 2013 and 2018. Ordained a priest in 1966 and bishop in 1987, he was made a cardinal in 2003. Pell served as the eighth Archbishop of Sydney (2001–2014), the seventh Archbishop of Melbourne (1996–2001) and an auxiliary bishop of Melbourne (1987–1996). He was also an author, columnist and public speaker. From 1996, Pell maintained a high public profile on a wide range of issues, while retaining an adherence to Catholic orthodoxy.
Pell worked as a priest in rural Victoria and in Melbourne and also chaired the aid organisation Caritas Australia (part of Caritas Internationalis) from 1988 to 1997. He was appointed a delegate to the Australian Constitutional Convention in 1998, received the Centenary Medal from the Australian government in 2003 and was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours.[1] During his tenure as Archbishop of Melbourne, Pell set up the "Melbourne Response" protocol in 1996 to investigate and deal with complaints of child sexual abuse in the archdiocese.[2][3] The protocol was the first of its kind in the world and was subjected to a variety of criticisms.[2]
In 2018, Pell was convicted of child sexual abuse, but on appeal, the convictions were quashed, and Pell acquitted, in 2020 by the High Court of Australia.[4] A separate investigation by the Holy See's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith into these allegations of abuse concluded upon his acquittal by the High Court.[5]
According to findings released by Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2020, Pell knew of child sexual abuse by clergy by the 1970s but did not take adequate action to address it. Pell said he was "surprised" and that the commission's views "are not supported by evidence".[6]
^"The Queen's Birthday 2005 Honours: The Governor-General is pleased to announce the following appointments and awards". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. Special (National : 1977 - 2012). 13 June 2005. p. 1. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
^ abCatholic Church Victoria (21 September 2012). Facing the Truth – Learning from the Past – How the Catholic Church in Victoria has Responded to Child Abuse (submission to Parliamentary Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and other Non-Government Organisations) (PDF) (Report). Retrieved 6 July 2017.
^Family and Community Development Committee (2013). Betrayal of trust: inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations (Volume 2)(PDF). East Melbourne, Victoria: Parliament of Victoria. ISBN 9780987372857.
^Posthumous sources:
"Controversial Catholic cleric Pell dies aged 81". BBC News. 11 January 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2023. But the cleric left his post in 2017, returning to Australia to face trial on child sex abuse charges. A jury in 2018 found he had abused two boys while Archbishop of Melbourne in the 1990s. Cardinal Pell, who always maintained his innocence, spent 13 months in prison before the High Court of Australia quashed the verdict in 2020.
McGuirk, Rod; Winfield, Nicole; Perry, Nick (11 January 2023). "Cardinal Pell, whose convictions were overturned, dies at 81". Associated Press. Retrieved 11 January 2023. ... spent 404 days in solitary confinement in his native Australia on child sex abuse charges before his convictions were overturned
Pal, Alasdair; Feast, Lincoln (11 January 2023). "Reaction to the death of Australian Cardinal George Pell". Reuters. Retrieved 11 January 2023. George Pell, a leading Roman Catholic conservative and former top Vatican official who in 2020 was acquitted of child sexual abuse allegations.
"Cardinal Pell: a divisive figure cleared of sexual abuse". France 24. Agence France Presse. 11 January 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2023. ... leaves a legacy forever marked by a paedophilia conviction that was later overturned. .... served 12 months in jail before a court quashed his conviction on five counts of sexually abusing 13-year-old choirboys in the 1990s.
"Cardinal George Pell dies in Rome aged 81 after hip surgery". ABC News Australia. 11 January 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2023. ... was jailed in Australia for child sexual abuse in 2019 but vigorously maintained his innocence and had his convictions quashed more than a year later.
^Collett, Michael (18 September 2019). "The Catholic Church has its own secret investigation into Pell. Here's who is running it". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
^Cite error: The named reference Cardinal Pell-2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
GeorgePell AC (8 June 1941 – 10 January 2023) was an Australian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as the inaugural prefect of the Secretariat...
Retrieved 25 June 2020. Pell - The Final Verdict; Media Watch 20 Apr 2020 Andrew Bolt and the ABC: did the reporting on GeorgePell step over a line?; 15...
by Asian immigrants.[citation needed] In 2019, Bolt defended Cardinal GeorgePell, who at that time had been convicted of child sexual abuse (he was later...
of" by "intolerant authoritarians". In 2019, Devine defended Cardinal GeorgePell, at the time facing charges of which he was ultimately acquitted, related...
Pell is a surname shared by several notable people, listed below Albert Pell Axel Rudi Pell (born 1960), German heavy metal guitar player and member of...
"Cardinal GeorgePell responds to call to face abuse royal commission". The Australian. Retrieved 4 March 2016. Gerard Henderson. "GeorgePell: a scapegoat...
is the grandson of Senator Claiborne Pell and Nuala Pell (the granddaughter of A&P grocery chain founder George Huntington Hartford). Through his grandfather...
December 2018, International news sources have reported that Cardinal GeorgePell's conviction on child-molestation charges is subject to a gag order issued...
Sexual Abuse found that senior figures in the church, including Cardinal GeorgePell, knew about Ridsdale's prolific sexual abuse of children but protected...
following a spat with the Catholic Church over a plaque for cardinal GeorgePell, who had been convicted on child abuse charges (later overturned by the...
Hamtramck Claiborne, George Mifflin Dallas, and Nathaniel Herbert Claiborne. He was a direct descendant of English mathematician John Pell and a descendant...
Cardinal Pell" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 February 2019. Retrieved 28 February 2019. Davey, Melissa (27 February 2019). "GeorgePell's lawyer...
Buruni by Pope John Paul II on 16 July 2003 and consecrated by Cardinal GeorgePell at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, on 3 September 2003. He took "Speaking...
in Ballarat. She reported on the allegations of sexual abuse against GeorgePell for ABC Television's 7.30. In March 2024, Milligan reported for Four...
successfully acted in the appeal to the High Court of Australia of Cardinal GeorgePell, whose child sex abuse convictions were overturned on 7 April 2020. In...
He suffered a "massive stroke" (page 303) in November 2001. Cardinal GeorgePell wrote that "despite a dour public persona, Brennan was good company and...
Chamberlain case, as well as the appeal that led to the acquittal of GeorgePell were appeals made on the unsafe verdict ground before the High Court...
Royal Commission report claimed that former Diocese of Ballarat priest GeorgePell knew of sex abuse in the church as early as 1973. The Diocese of Ballarat...
of Victoria (NGV) in 1997, the then Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, GeorgePell, sought an injunction from the Supreme Court of Victoria to restrain...
June 2015). "Pell 'a man of integrity with a big hear'". Herald Sun. Retrieved 15 August 2019. "Archbishop of Melbourne says GeorgePell remains a friend...
Tyre Nichols, 29, American motorist, subject of Tyre Nichols protests. GeorgePell, 81, Australian Roman Catholic cardinal, archbishop of Melbourne (1996–2001)...
who questioned the guilt of Cardinal GeorgePell in a segment of his program he called "The Pedo Files". Pell’s conviction was overturned by the High...
Ludwig Müller Cardinal Vincent Nichols Cardinal Pietro Palazzini Cardinal GeorgePell Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi Cardinal Carlos...
Testimony that Convicted GeorgePell". Quadrant Online. Retrieved 25 April 2021. Grace, D (2020). "Review of The Persecution of GeorgePell" (PDF). Journal of...
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