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Sydney farewells Cardinal Clancy

More than 1,000 mourners, including Prime Minister Tony Abbott, have attended a funeral for former Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Edward Clancy.

Cardinal Clancy was the seventh Archbishop of Sydney and died last weekend at the age of 90.

A Mass of Christian Burial has been held at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney where Reverend Peter Ingram told the congregation Cardinal Clancy was humble and hardworking.

“When I think of Cardinal Clancy I remember a man who was reserved and charming,” he said.

“He always took full responsibility for his actions and was willing to make tough decisions.

“The Cardinal had a refined sense of humour and a dry wit.

“He played tennis in his earlier years, later years took up cycling in Centennial Park on his days off and playing some golf.”

The Cardinal’s leadership between 1983 and 2001 was vital in the canonisation of Australia’s first saint, Mary MacKillop.

Cardinal Clancy died at a nursing home in Sydney’s east, the Little Sisters of the Poor in Randwick, after years of ill health.

Former Archbishop of Melbourne George Pell, now a senior Vatican official, succeeded Cardinal Clancy as the head of the Sydney church.

Cardinal Clancy was born in Lithgow, New South Wales, on December 13, 1923, to school teacher John Bene Clancy and Ellen Lucy Edwards.

He entered the seminary at 16 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1949.

In 1978, he was appointed Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn.

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