Bishop Peter Elliott, champion of Tradition, dies aged 81

The Church in Australia is mourning the death of one of its most eloquent defenders of Tradition.

Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Peter John Elliott, a towering figure in Catholic liturgy and pastoral life, died peacefully on 6 August 2025 at the age of 81. Born in Melbourne in 1943, the son of an Anglican vicar, he converted to Catholicism while studying theology at Oxford University, influenced decisively by St John Henry Newman’s Development of Christian Doctrine. “The last book I read before I became a Catholic was Newman’s Development of Christian Doctrine,” he told The Catholic Weekly days before his death.