ourners and protesters squared off on Thursday on the funeral service for Australian Cardinal George Pell, a former prime Vatican official who was acquitted in 2020 of sexual abuse accusations.
Lots of took half in protests exterior St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, the place former prime ministers Tony Abbott and John Howard have been amongst 1000’s of mourners paying their respects to the 81-year-old who died final month.
“He’s the best Catholic Australia has ever produced, and one in all our nation’s biggest sons,” Mr Abbott mentioned throughout a eulogy.
In a park reverse the cathedral, teams of protesters, many from the LGBT neighborhood and a few holding indicators studying “Pell Burn In Hell”, heard speeches towards the cardinal and the Catholic Church.
Police maintained a excessive presence amid protests exterior the Cathedral
/ Getty Photos“(We’re right here to) simply present solidarity with the victims and the survivors of what’s occurred via the Catholic Church, however notably George Pell,” mentioned Layne Elbourne, a musician.
Some mourners held up rosary beads in response to protesters’ chants as tensions flared.
Police intervened to separate offended mourners from protesters holding signings condemning the cardinal to hell, the BBC reported.
In 2020 Australia’s Excessive Court docket quashed the convictions of Cardinal Pell for sexually assaulting two choir boys within the Nineties, permitting him to stroll free after 13 months in jail.
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