Much-loved Catholic priest and social justice campaigner Father Bob Maguire will be remembered at a state funeral in Victoria.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced on Tuesday the larrikin priest would be honoured at the service at a date yet to be set.

His family and the Father Bob Maguire Foundation will help to arrange the funeral.

“Victorians will be invited to celebrate the life of Father Bob Maguire at a state funeral, honouring the people’s priest’s generosity, kindness, humour and service to the state,” Mr Andrews said.

The premier was due to speak with Father Bob’s family late last week about the possibility of a state funeral following the charity campaigner’s death at Cabrini Hospital in Melbourne on April 19.

He was 88.

Father Bob dedicated his life to charitable works and gained a reputation as a candid commentator unafraid to speak his mind or call out church leaders.

The Catholic priest was known for his work with disadvantaged people in his South Melbourne parish and appeared regularly in the media.

Born in 1934 in the Melbourne suburb of Thornbury to Scottish immigrant parents, Father Bob entered the Catholic seminary in 1953 and said he was immediately struck by the conservative nature of some of the church’s methods.

He later irreverently referred to the seminary as “the cemetery”.

After being ordained as a priest in 1960 at the age of 25, he joined the Army Reserve in 1965 and became head of the army’s Character Training Unit for young officers during the Vietnam War.

Father Bob balanced his media commitments and parish duties until he was forced to retire from the Catholic Church in 2012.

Known universally as Father Bob, the sometimes controversial Melbourne cleric was known as much for his sense of humour as he was for his social justice advocacy and faith.

He was parish priest of St Peter and St Paul’s Church in South Melbourne from 1973 to 2012, until he was ordered to retire as an active priest by the Catholic Church because of its rules that priests had to retired at age 75.

Hundreds turned out to his final service.

Since then, Father Bob had been a frequent commentator on social issues and retained a loyal following on social media, as well as the foundation in his own name.

-AAP