Cardinal George Pell funeral takes place at Vatican

Pope gives final blessing at service for Australia's most senior Catholic, who was found guilty then acquitted of child abuse

The premature death" of the controversial cardinal George Pell caught us all by surprise", said Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the college of cardinals, as he presided over Pell's funeral in St Peter's Basilica on Saturday.

Pell, who was Australia's most senior Catholic and was found guilty and then acquitted of child sexual abuse, had undergone a hip operation in Rome and died after a cardiac arrest on Tuesday at the age of 81. Days earlier, he had attended the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI in the same cathedral.