A once high-ranking Australian cardinal who spent more than a year in prison before his child abuse convictions were squashed on appeal will be interred on Feb. 2 after a requiem Mass at Sydney’s St. Mary’s Cathedral, the church said Tuesday.
Cardinal George Pell, 81, died on Jan. 10, shortly after undergoing hip surgery in a Rome hospital. As the Vatican’s finance minister for three years, Pell had been a key player in the early years of Pope Francis’ papacy, whose goals included reforming the Holy See’s finances, which had a long history of scandals and poor management.
