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.
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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.