Cardinal Pell lies in state, funeral plans overshadowed by memo revelation


FILE PHOTO: Australian Cardinal George Pell gestures as he speaks during an interview with Reuters in Rome, Italy December 7, 2020. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Australian Cardinal George Pell was lying in state on Friday, with funeral preparations overshadowed by revelations that he was the author of an anonymous memo that branded Pope Francis' pontificate a catastrophe.

Pell's closed dark brown wooden coffin was placed on the floor of the small church of St. Stephen of the Abyssinians, inside the Vatican walls just yards away from the Santa Marta residence where Francis lives.

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