Orphaned as a child and raised by nuns, Michael McCormack’s mother will be smiling down on him when he attends the Pope’s funeral.
The Nationals MP for Riverina is one of four Australians selected to represent the country in the Vatican City as Pope Francis is laid to rest on Saturday.
While humbled by the invitation, his first thought was not for himself but his late mother Eileen, who was raised by the Presentation Sisters of Wagga Wagga after losing both her parents by the time she was nine years old.
“She would be so, so thrilled that her son was given this unique opportunity,” Mr McCormack told AAP.
“Mum lived a life of faith – she was more Catholic than most.
“And seriously, if she’s not in heaven, then heaven probably doesn’t exist.”
Catholicism helped Ms McCormack navigate her childhood grief and soon became an important part of her life as she frequently attended mass and took communion.
Archbishop Francis Carroll, in particular, helped marry her and her husband George, buried both members of the couple and would serve as the inspiration for the National MP’s middle name.
“I was quite chuffed when the Pope took on Francis as his name,” Mr McCormack said.
Mr McCormack was baptised and married at Saint Michael’s Cathedral in Wagga Wagga, and continues to live by his mother’s ways, praying every day and regularly attending church.
While he doesn’t “wear his religion on his sleeve” as he wants to acknowledge all perspectives, he believes Catholicism and the late Pope have offered lessons for him as a member of parliament.
“Sometimes people will come to you with their issues – perhaps at the end of a very long day … but you have to stop, take stock of what they’re saying and try to help them,” Mr McCormack said.
“Offering hope is something that I think the Pope did – obviously on a much wider scale – but I think you’ve just got to be there for people.
“It doesn’t matter whether you go to church or not, it doesn’t matter whether you believe or not – just so long as you’re a good human and I think that’s what Pope Francis instilled in his work.”
Cabinet minister Don Farrell, Governor-General Sam Mostyn and Australia’s Ambassador to the Holy See Keith Pitt will also head to Rome to attend Pope Francis’s funeral, leaving behind domestic campaign antics ahead of the May 3 election.
“The things that unite us as Australians (are) far greater than those which divide us,” Mr McCormack said.
“Every parliamentarian is in the parliament to try and make the community a better place, and it’s not a religious thing, it’s just a human thing to want to do the best by other people.”
Australia’s top Catholic and Cardinal Mykola Bychok will also attend the funeral in an official capacity and is expected to be involved in the conclave to select Pope Francis’s successor.
Australians across the country, including the prime minister and opposition leader, have attended local services in memory of the pontiff, who died aged 88 on Monday.
About one in five Australians, or 5.1 million people, identified as Catholic in the 2021 Census.
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