Cardinal George Pell has died at age 81 of complications following hip replacement surgery in Rome on January 10, 2023. This is devastating news indeed.
I think it is more than appropriate for us to remind our readers that one of George Cardinal Pell's last public acts was to let it be known that he'd accepted an invitation from Notre-Dame de Chretiente to offer the Traditional Latin Mass in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Chartres on Pentecost Monday for the close of the 2023 Pilgrimage to Chartres, France. Given the controversy surrounding Traditionis Custodes and the Vatican's attempted suppression of the Latin Mass, this was indeed an act of courage and fidelity to Tradition on the part of His Eminence.
There was to have been a meeting in Paris with the heads of foreign chapters, myself included, and the Cardinal after the Mass in Chartres. I very much regret missing the opportunity to thank him for his support and generosity where the Latin Mass community was concerned over the past decades. Cardinal Pell suffered much for his fidelity to Christ's Church, even enjuring unjust imprisonment with Christlike resignation.
Cardinal Pell will be greatly missed. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen.