Friends and Family Pay Their Respects to Cardinal Pell

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, described Cardinal George Pell as ‘a man of God and a man of the Church’ in his homily at a packed Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica.
VATICAN CITY — Hundreds of mourners from across the world including a large number of cardinals and archbishops, family members, many friends and a few foes paid their respects to Cardinal George Pell at his funeral Mass on Saturday.
The requiem Mass for the Australian cardinal, who unexpectedly died after suffering a cardiac arrest in a Rome hospital on Jan. 10 at the age of 81, took place at a packed Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica.
In his homily, the main celebrant, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, described George Pell as “a man of God and a man of the Church.”
Noting that the cardinal appeared healthy when he was admitted to hospital for routine hip surgery and only a few days earlier had attended Benedict XVI’s funeral …