Bishop Mark Edwards mourns his old footy coach, Cardinal George Pell

Bishop Mark Edwards met the former archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney three times over the course of his life and remembers Cardinal Pell as a "warm and witty" man.

The pair first met in 1985, when their two seminaries in Melbourne joined up to form an Aussie rules football team.

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Bishop Edwards was a student who played as a ruckman, while Cardinal Pell was the priest who coached the team.

"He was definitely a passionate footy coach. He was very keen to win and didn't want to coach us to second place," Bishop Edwards said.

They met again in Rome years later, when multiple cardinals gave presentations to the newest group of ordained bishops, which included Bishop Edwards.

Cardinal Pell, who was eventually placed in charge of finances at the Vatican between 2014 and 2019, gave the presentation on bookkeeping.

"The Italian way seems to be that the more important you are the longer you speak for, which is super annoying for an Australian," Bishop Edwards said.

"But Cardinal Pell finished what he had to say in 45 minutes and just stopped. I felt like standing up and cheering."

The pair then met up for a coffee and reflected on their season together in the footy team.

"He looked up at me and said 'I just have to admit that you guys were a bit of a disappointment to me'," Bishop Edwards said.

"Because he played football for his seminary a generation earlier and they actually had quite a strong team."

Their paths once again crossed briefly just two years ago during a meeting of bishops in Sydney.

Cardinal Pell was jailed in Australia for child sexual abuse in 2019, but he consistently maintained his innocence and his convictions were quashed over a year later.

Bishop Edwards said he "can understand" why the cardinal has become such a controversial figure in Australia, even if he does not necessarily agree.

"Cardinal Pell, particularly as the Archbishop of Sydney, represented the Church in Australia - and the Church in Australia has had a lot of failings and lots of flaws," Bishop Edwards said.

"So I can understand that he would be seen as not having done enough to perhaps fight those flaws. I don't know if that's particularly a fair analysis, but it certainly is an analysis."

Cardinal Pell died at the age of 81 in Rome on January 10, due to heart complications after a hip surgery.

Bishop Edwards said his first reaction to his passing was surprise, as the Cardinal appeared healthy when interviewed on the death of Pope Benedict just two weeks ago.

"He was very passionate especially about the things he loved like Aussie rules football," Bishop Edwards said.

"But he was also very passionate about the Church and about God. He was always very clear, the three times I met him, about what he thinks is right.

"I think that part of him ... has led to other people finding him cold and even heartless, but my experience was that he was always warm and witty."

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