POPE RECALLS CARDINAL PELL FOR COHERENT AND COMMITTED WITNESS, DEDICATION TO THE GOSPEL AND THE CHURCH
Following is the telegram sent by Pope Francis to Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, upon learning of the death last evening in Rome at the age of 81 of Australian Cardinal George Pell. Cardinal Pell was archbishop emeritus of Sydney, and prefect emeritus of the Scretariat for the Eonomy of the Holy See and Vatican City State. He had successful surgery Tuesday for a hip replacement but heart problems developed in the evening and he died just before 9 pm.
Cardinal Pell appeared last week on EWTN’s live coverage of the death and funeral of Pope emeritus Benedict –
To Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re,
I learned with sadness the news of the death of Cardinal George Pell, prefect emeritus of the Secretariat for the Eonomy. I wish to express my closeness to you and to the College of Cardinals, and in a special way to his dear brother David and other family members. I extend my feelings of great condolences, remembering with a grateful soul his coherent and committed witness, his dedication to the Gospel and the Church, and particularly the diligent collaboration given to the Holy See in the context of its recent economic reform, whose foundation he laid with determination and wisdom. I lift up prayers that the soul of this faithful servant who, without wavering, followed his Lord with perseverance even in the final hour of trial, be welcomed in the joy of heaven and receive the award of eternal peace. I send you and the family of the late cardinal and on all who share the sorrow at his passing, my blessing.
Franciscus
Joan's Rome 