Most Reverend Peter John Elliott
Born 1st October 1943 (Melbourne)
Ordained Priest 19th February 1973
Consecrated Bishop 15th June 2007
Titular Bishop of Manaccenser &
Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of Melbourne (retired 3rd November 2018)
Died 6th August 2025 (Melbourne)
Throughout the world, Catholics (and not a few non-Catholics) are mourning the loss of Bishop Peter J Elliott, retired Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne, Australia, who died on Wednesday, 6th August.
The son of an Anglican clergyman, after completing a Master of Arts (in History) at the University of Melbourne, Peter went on to Oxford, where he obtained a Master of Arts in Theology. Known affectionately by his friends at Oxford as “Naples” - because of his proximity to Rome in matters of religion - it was at Oxford that he was received into the Catholic Church by Fr Michael Hollings. Peter's sponsor was the young Fr George Pell.
Returning to Melbourne in 1969, Peter entered the Provincial Seminary, and was ordained to the Sacred Priesthood in 1973, during the 40th International Eucharistic Congress held in Melbourne. Fr Elliott was appointed to Parish pastoral ministry, and served as Secretary to Bishop John A Kelly (Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne) from 1979-84. It was during this time that I had the privilege of meeting Fr Elliott, and received the gift of a friendship with him that would endure and deepen through more than 40 years.
In the mid-1980s, Fr Elliott pursued doctoral studies at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, specialising in the Theology of Marriage, and in 1987 he was made an Official of the Pontifical Council for the Family.
Returning to Melbourne in 1997 at the behest of then Archbishop George Pell, Msgr Elliott served as Episcopal Vicar for Religious Education, producing new catechetical materials for Catholic schools. He was also appointed Director of the Melbourne Session of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family, as well as serving as a Parish Priest.
In addition to his many contributions in the fields of marriage and the family, including his defence of Catholic teaching regarding human sexuality and the right to life, Bishop Elliott had a profound devotion to the Sacred Liturgy. Through his publications and talks, he attempted to steer the new Roman liturgy in the greatest possible continuity with the historical and received forms. He also lent great support - both in season and out - to the traditional Roman liturgy and those attached to it. As a young priest - years before the 1984 Indult of John Paul II - he predicted in private conversations the restoration of the old Mass. He was delighted by John Paul II’s "Ecclesia Dei" decree in 1988, and by the further provisions made by Benedict XVI in "Summorum Pontificum" in 2007 (issued only weeks after his own elevation to the Episcopacy).
Bishop Elliott gave his consistent support to the traditional Mass in Melbourne and beyond, frequently celebrating Pontifical Mass in the Newmam Parish, as well as during “Juventutem” (WYD) and the Christus Rex pilgrimage.
In July 2021, Pope Francis moved to reverse the liturgical policies of John Paul II & Benedict XVI, issuing the decree “Traditionis Custodes”, in which he attempted to impose severe restrictions on the celebration of the traditional Mass. Within less that two weeks after this, Bishop Elliott published in the national newspaper, “The Australian”, an impassioned defence of the traditional Mass and of those Catholics attached to it.
“It might be argued”, Bishop Elliott wrote “that key points in the decree are plainly untrue, and that the document is so incompetently drafted as to be moot anyway. The pastoral effects of [this] dictat are: confusion, anger and hurt.” The Bishop continued: "Having received copies of a flood of anguished letters, protesting about the severe papal ruling, I hear not only their pain but moving arguments explaining their love for the stately old rite, its attractive silence and engaging spirituality. Young people and young families wrote many of these sad letters. They are certainly not divisive extremists, aggressive cranks or nostalgic old folk.”
Bishop Elliott continued to support traditional Catholics through these difficult times, both in word and in deed. He welcomed the election of Pope Leo XIV, and died hopeful of the traditional Latin liturgy's being restored definitively to an honoured place in the life of the Church, through a retrieval of the discipline and teaching of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. As Bishop Elliott said to us in 2024, after the last Confirmations he conferred in the Parish of St John Henry Newman, “the only way forward is through the past.”
[Written by Fr. Glen Tattersall, of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, Australia]
