Prime Minister attends early morning mass for Pope Francis

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Prime Minister and Opposition Leader have paid tribute to Pope Francis. The leaders scaled back campaigning today in light of the pontiff's death. That's despite it being a crucial day for the election with early voting opening.

Transcript

00:01Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has now made his way to Sydney

00:05ahead of tonight's debate with opposition leader Peter Dutton.

00:08It's the third of four debates of this election campaign.

00:12Earlier today, the Prime Minister was in Melbourne

00:15where he attended a special church service for Pope Francis.

00:19It was the second time he visited St Patrick's in as many days

00:22after heading there pretty much immediately

00:24after he learnt of the Pontiff's passing.

00:27He held a press conference shortly after that mass

00:30where he was asked about the role faith has played in his career.

00:34Look, I try not to talk about my faith in public.

00:39I say I was raised with three great faiths,

00:42I've said that a number of times,

00:44and at times like this I think what people do is to draw on who they are

00:51and certainly my Catholicism is just a part of me.

01:01And one of the things about the Holy Father is that he, for so many Catholics,

01:11I think his humility for the way that he embraced the poor,

01:18the way that he embraced the social justice message

01:23that I see as the message of Jesus Christ,

01:28is really important for so many Catholics.

01:31There was a brief pause in campaigning out of respect for the Pope this morning,

01:35but the events are now again underway.

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