Police ask court to ban protest at Cardinal’s Sydney funeral

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – Australian police plan to ask a judge to ban pro-gay rights protesters from demonstrating Thursday on public safety grounds ahead of Cardinal George Pell’s funeral in Sydney.

Pell, once thought to be the third most senior minister in the Vatican and who spent more than a year in prison before his child molestation convictions were quashed in 2020, died in Rome this month at the age of 81.

The strictly conservative head of the church will lie in St. Mary’s Cathedral from Wednesday and will be buried in the cathedral the following day after a funeral service.

The New South Wales Police Force said on Tuesday it had turned down an application by Sydney-based gay rights group Community Action for Rainbow Rights for a permit to protest outside the cathedral on Thursday over security concerns.

It said Police Commissioner Karen Webb will petition the New South Wales Supreme Court on Wednesday to ban the rally.

“NSW Police recognize and support the rights of individuals and groups to exercise their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, but the first priority is always the safety of the wider community,” police said in a statement.

Pell was an outspoken and polarizing figure throughout his church career and remains divisive in death in his native Australia.

The protest group has posted on social media their intention to proceed with what they call “Pell go to Hell!” Protest.

“We need everyone to come out and protest on Thursday. We cannot allow the police to deny us our right to protest this fanatic’s funeral!” the group said.

As Archbishop of Melbourne and later Archbishop of Sydney, Pell repeatedly refused to give Communion to gay activists wearing rainbow-colored sashes.

“God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve, and important consequences follow,” Pell told a St Mary’s congregation in 2002 after he first refused communion to a gay activist in Sydney.

Pell was also a lightning rod for disagreements over whether the Catholic Church was held accountable for past child sexual abuse.

Pell and his supporters believed he had been made a scapegoat for all the crimes of the Australian Catholic Church’s botched response to clergy sex abuse.

Protesters plan to tie ribbons to commemorate the victims of child abuse on the cathedral fence on Wednesday, as thousands of mourners are expected to see the cardinal’s coffin.

“Tiing ribbons on church fences has become a visual symbol of those who have been mistreated by the church, and a reminder that these crimes go largely unpunished,” activists wrote.

Rod McGuirk, The Associated Press