'Final insult': Andrew Bolt slam's Vatican's treatment of Cardinal Pell's b

The Vatican should feel “deeply ashamed” as to the way in which Cardinal George Pell’s body was treated before being sent to Australia for burial following his death, says Sky News host Andrew Bolt. Mr Bolt discussed how a “Pell confident” who was at the opening of the Cardinal’s coffin found the body had been treated with “gross disrespect”. “Perhaps it was just incompetence, but some of Pell's closest associates have told me they suspected some in the Vatican had not forgiven Pell for exposing corruption,” Mr Bolt said. The Sky News host said he also spoke with Cardinal Pell’s brother, David, to check what he knew of what had been done to the body. “As he confirmed, the embalming, in his words, had been mucked up, or buggered up," Mr Bolt said. "A Sydney undertaker had to clean the body – Pell's nose had also been broken. Pell was also shoeless, said David Pell, his brother. "In fact, I'd been told he wasn't only shoeless – all his clothes had simply been just thrown in the coffin. “It is true that, outwardly, the Vatican did Pell the full honours at his death, with a packed service at St Peter's, attended by the Pope, and Pell remains of course admired by many around the world, including me – and not just Catholics of course, because I'm not, I'm not even Christian – admired as a man of God, a man of principle, a reformer, a strong leader and a man persecuted for his faith. “But the Vatican should now be deeply, deeply ashamed to have treated his body so shabbily.” Mr Bolt said it was a "final insult" to a "great and innocent man".