Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s conservative Catholic giant, has died at the age of 81. Let’s take a closer look at George Pell and his reason for death.
What happened to George Pell?
Pell died of cardiac issues following hip surgery, according to Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli. “With profound sadness, I announce the death of Cardinal George Pell a few hours ago, after heart issues following hip surgery,” he stated. “May eternal light now be his, who has so steadily believed in Jesus Christ’s God?” He died just days after attending the Vatican’s burial of former Pope Benedict XVI.
How did George pell die?
Pell died of cardiac arrest on January 10, 2023, at 81, at the Salvator Mundi hospital in Rome, following hip surgery. Following his Vatican funeral, plans were made to repatriate Pell’s remains to Australia and bury him at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney. He has had several health concerns in recent years. According to sources, he was speaking with the anaesthetist at the hospital after the procedure when he slipped into cardiac arrest.
Previous Illness of Pell:
Pell suffered cardiac problems when visiting the Vatican in January 2010, and a pacemaker was installed in his chest in a hospital in Rome in February. His physicians judged that his heart condition was too severe for him to speak before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses in 2015. Thus, he could not fly from Italy to Australia. He was expected to be fit enough to travel in February 2016. However, based on a two-page medical assessment submitted by Pell’s attorneys, commission chair Justice Peter McClellan denied him the opportunity to appear in person. He testified via video link from a hotel in Rome. In December of last year, he had knee surgery.
By June 2019, he had recovered sufficiently to extend his use no more a cane. When he was taken into custody following his conviction in February 2019, an examination of his mental and physical health decided that he was fit to be held at HM Melbourne Assessment Prison.
Pell’s Early Years:
Pell worked as a priest in Swan Hill, Ballarat, and Melbourne in his early years. During his 1973 tenure in the St. Alipius presbytery in Ballarat East, he met Gerald Ridsdale, a renowned child molester. Ridsdale pled guilty to 13 more offences related to the assault of two boys in 1981 and 1982, the most recent of which was made public in October 2022.
Social Concerns:
Cardinal George Pell rose from a rural Victoria background to become one of the world’s most senior Catholic clerics before becoming involved in various court proceedings over $ex assault claims. Pell, a controversial figure, had spent the latter years of his life living, over which he had presided as Archbishop of Sydney after the High Court unanimously overturned his conviction for child $ex charges in April 2020. Despite being found guilty by a jury of the 1996 rape of a 13-year-old boy and $exual abuse of another at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric has always maintained his innocence.
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