Cardinal George Pell’s body will lie in state at Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral as child sexual abuse survivors tie ribbons on the fence to remind the public of clergy abuse.

The 81-year-old former archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney died in a Rome hospital in January from heart complications following hip surgery and was given a traditional cardinal’s funeral by the Vatican at St Peter’s Basilica.

His body has been returned to Sydney for burial and a solemn reception began on Wednesday morning with two masses, followed by a vigil later in the day, with mourners invited to pay their respects.

A requiem mass celebrated by Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher will take place on Thursday before the cardinal is buried in a private ceremony at St Mary’s crypt.

Thousands of mourners are expected to attend the mass and screens will be erected in the cathedral forecourt to accommodate them.

Cardinal Pell was the Vatican’s top finance minister before leaving Rome in 2017 to stand trial in Melbourne for child sexual abuse offences.

The following year, he was convicted of molesting two teenage choirboys in the sacristy of Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral while archbishop in 1996.

He maintained his innocence and in 2020 his convictions were quashed by the High Court.

Debate over state funeral for George Pell 10 News First – Disclaimer

Yet for child sexual abuse survivors and supporters, Pell’s legacy is one of shame and institutional cover-up.

A support group for clergy abuse survivors, Loud Fence, has been tying colourful ribbons around the cathedral’s fence as a symbol of solidarity and claims they have been repeatedly taken down by church staff.

Paul Auchettl, whose brother was a victim of clerical abuse by a priest under the leadership of Cardinal Pell in Ballarat during the 1970s, is vowing to continue tying memorial ribbons to the fence.

Mr Auchettl’s brother ended his life some 25 years ago.

“There are so many who are too angry to be here. We are here because those who are dead can’t be here,” he said.

“They are so full of shame, their families hold a painful history”.

Mr Auchettl’s says the church has left victims and their families in a “spiritual wasteland”.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney has been contacted for comment.

Sydney LGBTQI group Community Action for Rainbow Rights said it would go ahead with a peaceful march on Thursday morning timed with the funeral, despite police seeking a court order to prevent it.

“We need everybody to come out and protest on Thursday. We can’t let the police get away with denying us our right to protest,” the group said on its Facebook page.

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-AAP

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