NSW Police will attempt to block a protest by the LGBTQI group Community Action for Rainbow Rights, planned for the Sydney funeral of Cardinal George Pell.
The NSW Police commissioner will apply to the NSW Supreme Court to prohibit the protest, saying in a statement that safety concerns for the community must come first.
"Despite attempted negotiations with organisers, safety concerns associated with their proposed assembly cannot be adequately mitigated without amendments to the proposal," the statement said.
"The NSW Police Force recognises and supports the rights of individuals and groups to exercise their rights of free speech and peaceful assembly, however, the first priority is always the safety of the wider community."
Cardinal Pell will lie in state at St Mary's Cathedral on Wednesday before his funeral mass on Thursday.
A funeral mass was held for the Cardinal at the Vatican in Rome after he died of heart complications following hip surgery in early January.
Community Action for Rainbow Rights had applied to protest at Hyde Park across the road from the Cathedral on the morning of the funeral.
"We are calling on all supporters of LGBTI and women's rights to join us for a protest outside of his funeral service to send a strong message: we reject George Pell and everything he stood for," it said in a Facebook post.
Pell was a staunchly conservative figure at a time when calls were growing for the Catholic Church to become more progressive on issues such as abortion, homosexuality and the ordination of female priests.
A separate silent "special ribbon event" in the St Mary's Cathedral forecourt representing victim-survivors of child sexual abuse has also been organised for Wednesday.
Paul Auchettl is among a group of survivors and supporters who have been tying ribbons to the church's fence ahead of Cardinal Pell's funeral.
"This will be a silent event using ribbons to amplify the voices of survivors and victims of child sexual abuse, whether from Ballarat, Melbourne, Sydney or elsewhere," the post said.
It is a continuation of the Loud Fence campaign that originated in Ballarat and the Every Ribbon Has A Voice campaign, organisers said.
Mr Auchetti was a witness at the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse who travelled to Rome with a group of survivors to witness Pell giving evidence to the Royal Commission in 2016.
The five-year royal commission found Pell knew of allegations of offending in the Ballarat diocese as early as 1973, when he was Episcopal Vicar for Education.
Cardinal Pell rejected the finding.
St Michael's Church in Belfield called on its members to attend a requiem mass for Pell, "to show the world how much Eminence is loved".
"It is important that we attend in numbers and drown them (the protesters) out. Most importantly we are commending Eminences soul to God," the church said in a Facebook post.
"All our activity MUST be peaceful and prayerful. Spread this message to every group you are on."
