On Saturday, the requiem for the Australian Curia Cardinal George Pell took place in St. Peter's Basilica.

Pell had suffered a cardiac arrest while recovering from hip replacement surgery on Jan. 10.

He was 81 years old.

Pell's body is due to be buried in the crypt of Sydney Cathedral this week.

There will be no state funeral for the only Australian among the “Princes of the Church” out of consideration for victims of abuse and their families.

Matthias Rub

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.

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Although Pell was acquitted of the allegation of sexual abuse of two choirboys by the Supreme Court and was able to leave prison in April 2020 after a good 400 days in prison, he was accused to the last of having committed acts of abuse by priests under his command as bishop in Melbourne and Sydney Custody covered up.

No mutual appreciation

Immediately after Pell's surprising death, Francis praised the pugnacious Australian in high tones.

He remembered "with gratitude" Pell's "continued and dedicated testimony," Francis wrote.

Especially in the efforts to reform the Vatican's opaque financial system, Pell "with determination and wisdom" laid the foundations for the ongoing reform efforts.

Pell was “a great man and we owe him much,” wrote Francis.

The appreciation was not mutual, as we now know.

A day after Pell's death, Italian "Vaticanista" Sandro Magister revealed on his blog Settimo Cielo (Seventh Heaven) that Pell was the author of the memorandum that has been circulating among members of the College of Cardinals for almost a year.

Magister had published the memorandum signed “Demos” (people) on March 15, 2022, without revealing who was behind the pseudonym.

In that burning letter to his brothers in the College of Cardinals, Pell ruthlessly settled accounts with Francis.

In the first section, "The Vatican Today," Pell takes stock of what he saw as devastating developments.

In the second section, "The Next Conclave," Pell offers advice to the cardinals on how, by choosing an appropriate successor, they could help

"Rome speaks, the confusion increases"

Pell describes Francis' pontificate as "disastrous in many, almost all respects," a mere "disaster."

The Pope is silent on positions that question the teaching of the Church on homosexuality, on the ordination of women or on receiving communion for divorced people.

In addition, the Pope's writings show an "intellectual decline" because they pay homage to the doctrine of "political correctness" in the states of the West, while the commitment to beleaguered Catholics in Hong Kong, China or Russia is neglected.

Pell also doesn't have a good hair when it comes to the Pope's administration of justice, finance and human resources in the Vatican.

Pell sums it up: “It used to be said: Roma locuta, causa finita (Rome has spoken, the matter is decided).

Today: Roma loquitur, confusio augetur (Rome speaks,

Pell gives a clear recommendation for the next conclave, but without naming the names of possible candidates.

The future pope must "neither be the world's best evangelist nor a political force"; rather, as a successor to the apostles, he must understand "that the secret of Christian and Catholic vitality lies in fidelity to the teachings of Christ and to Catholic practices" and not in of "adaptation to the world".

Criticism of the World Synod on Synodality

Also on January 11, the British magazine “The Spectator” published Pell's reckoning with the world synod on synodality initiated by Francis.

The Philippika Pells, which he completed shortly before his death, culminates in the statement that the synodal process had "developed into a toxic nightmare".

The working document presented last October on the Synod of Bishops, which is to take place in the Vatican in autumn 2024, is “one of the most incoherent documents that Rome has ever sent”.

The text drips with "neo-Marxist jargon" and breathes the "spirit of New Age", it is also openly "hostile to the apostolic tradition".

The document nowhere recognizes the New Testament as the word of God, which is authoritative for all doctrines of faith and morals.

Instead of offering Rome a clear position on questions of doctrine, the text merely lists the plurality of universal church views on abortion, contraception, the ordination of women, homosexuality and polygamy.

Those involved in the synodal path would now have to decide "whether they want to be servants and defenders of the apostolic tradition in questions of faith and morals" or whether they want to ignore fundamental aspects of Catholic teaching and delegate to Pope Francis the sole power of definition in these questions wanted to.

The text is little less than a call for religious rebellion against the incumbent pope.

Immediately after the death of Benedict XVI.

There had been speculation as to whether Pope Francis' conservative critics would now go on the frontal attack - no longer restrained by the moderating influence of Pope Emeritus Benedict.

Cardinal Pell was already considered one of the spokesmen for the traditionalist opponents of Francis in the last years of his life.

His example could posthumously set a precedent.