Australian Cardinal George Pell was lying in state, 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 metres away from the Santa Marta residence where Francis lives.
Pell, 81, who spent more than a year in jail before being acquitted of sexual abuse allegations in his native Australia,The small church, which is normally used for baptisms and weddings, is one of the oldest in the Vatican. Parts of it date back to the fifth century and it is one of the few structures not demolished to make way for the building of the current St. Peter's Basilica, which began in the early 16th century.
Last year, respected Italian journalist Sandro Magister, who has a long track record of receiving leaked Vatican documents, publishedMagister disclosed on his widely read blog Settimo Cielo that it was Pell who wrote the memo and gave him permission to publish it under the pseudonym "Demos" - Greek for populace. It included what the author said should be the qualities of the next pope.
The official said he did not doubt that Pell was the author but said the revelation should have been held back until after his funeral "out of respect for the dead".
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