Australia’s Cardinal Mykola Bychok, a Ukrainian Greek prelate, and Australia’s Governor-General, Sam Mostyn AC with Member for Riverina Michael McCormack.
Member for Riverina Michael McCormack has always had a strong Catholic faith. During the most recent election it was a leap of faith of sorts to stay in politics and take on the expanded seat, which brought in townships such as Crookwell and Yass.
Mr McCormack was asked to attend the Papal funeral for a number of reasons, however, one of the main reasons was his suitability with his Catholic faith and his willingness to take on a whirlwind trip representing the country at the behest of the current government, such is the high standard he is viewed across the political divide.
We caught up with Mr McCormack early this week to discuss the Papal funeral, his win in the seat of Riverina and where to now for the opposition after the Liberal Party lost plenty of ground on Saturday night.
He said, “The Papal funeral was an incredible opportunity. What absolutely fascinated me was the fact that generally at a funeral, you don’t have people applauding. Now, when, Giovanni Battista Cardinal Re, delivered his homily, there was just applause after applause, but it started up the back of St. Peter’s Square and it was like a ripple, like a wave, it just came forward seat by seat, row by row to the front where obviously the cardinals and the archbishops and the world leaders were all seated and it was spontaneous. It was loving. It just showed how affectionate people were to this late Pontiff who had changed the church.
“There’s no question he had moved it in to the modern times and many would argue that was needed, but he was very respected, very highly regarded and I was fortunate I was sitting next to the New Zealand Prime Minister, Christopher Luxton, I’ve known him for years, I get on well with him, but I was only a few seats away from the British Prime Minister who I met, he and his wife. I was three seats down from the Greek Prime Minister who I have met a couple of times and he remembered who I was, but I was only about seven seats away from Prince William, so I was third from the front, I was literally five metres from the microphone where the homily was delivered.
“I was 20 metres from the casket and I was 20 metres from where Donald Trump was seated up in the front row. So I was in a prime spot for what was an amazing world event. It was a part of world history that was quite surreal, really. I think the best description would be it was like being on a movie set and it was an incredible experience, one which will live with me forever.”
Mr McCormack got the call up from Prime Minister Albanese to attend.
“That was sort of pinch yourself stuff, but whilst I hadn’t ever realised it, I am the most senior member of the, well at the time, I was the most senior member of the coalition, having attained the rank of Deputy Prime Minister for the longest. I’m the person who’s actually attained the most senior rank in the coalition going forward. And obviously the fact that I am a practicing Catholic helps understanding the ways of the church and agreeing and believing in what they offer or what they or the principles and the preachings of the church obviously has something to do with it.
“It was a great opportunity and to meet Cardinal Bychok, the 45-year-old Australian Ukrainian Greek cardinal was something quite special because he obviously will be in the conclave to determine who the next pope will be.”
There was little time on the ground for Mr McCormack who after attending a few sites had to return to Australia.
“I was 48 hours on the ground. I got off the plane, it was six o’clock in the morning. By the time I got to off the plane and through security and through customs, I got to the motel, the trip had been 20 hours of well, 20 plus hours of driving, three plane trips and then I went straight to an ANZAC ceremony, which I was surprised by the number of people there. There were hundreds of people there in the Roman War Cemetery, which is run by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and there was some Australians buried there, so that was special.
“To lay a wreath was very poignant, and then we went for a viewing of the Pope lying in state. Now, there were people lined up for hours and they took us straight up to the coffin, so I was a bit sort of embarrassed, a bit humbled at the same time to be able to see the Pope lying state, which is obviously something quite incredible.
“And then, of course, we did some media. We had some lunches and dinners with cardinals and then obviously the next day it was the funeral, which was a two hour plus service in Latin, which was quite an experience, but just to be able to sit there amongst the world’s leaders, was something truly special and incredible.
Mr McCormack spent some time in High School learning some Latin, which came in use during the service. “I followed it to the point where I knew when to kneel and knew when to sit and I must say I was the only one in my whole row who knelt when I think I should have and my wife Catherine said “maybe you were the only one who got it wrong”. “I said ‘no, no I wasn’t’. They had an English version beside the Latin but mainly the book was mainly in Latin, but it was a long service. It was very hot, but there were a quarter of a million people in St. Peter’s for the service and when you’re in a crowd of 250,000 people and you know there’s another 150,000 outside, you feel it. You can feel the energy and the hum, it’s quite a unique experience.”
Mr McCormack returned to Australia and continued on the campaign trail where he was returned as the sitting member with a swing in his favour, able to claim the seat just a few hours after counting commenced on the Saturday night.
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