Dan Andrews rejects state funeral proposition for Cardinal Pell
Dan Andrews has rejected the idea of holding a state funeral for the late Cardinal George Pell, saying he "couldn’t think of anything more distressing" for victims of child sexual abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church.
Cardinal Pell, Australia's most senior Catholic, died on Wednesday at age 81 in Rome, after suffering heart complications from hip replacement surgery.
Speaking in Melbourne on Thursday, Andrews offered his condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Pell, acknowledging it would be a “sad time” for them.
However, he said victims of institutional child sexual abuse remained “foremost” in his thoughts.
“We see you, we believe you, we support you and you’re at the centre of not only our thoughts, not only our words, but our actions,” Andrews said.
“We should never ever forget that predator brothers and priests were systematically moved around knowingly. It was part of a strategy from one working-class parish to the next."
“We should never ever forget that, and we will never ever forget victims, survivors of institutional child sexual abuse at the hands of the Catholic church.”
Andrews said there had been no request made for a state funeral service, which is funded by the Victorian government, nor would one be offered to Pell.
“I don’t believe that there’s been a request made and these things are normally offered rather than asked for and there will be no offer made,” he said.
“There will be no memorial service or state funeral because I think that would be a deeply, deeply distressing thing for every victim-survivor of Catholic church child sexual abuse. That is my view. I will not do that.
“I couldn’t think of anything that would be more distressing for victim-survivors than that.”
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