SYDNEY (Reuters) – Protesters gathered and mourners began to arrive in Sydney on Thursday ahead of the funeral service of Australian Cardinal George Pell, a former top Vatican official who was acquitted in 2020 of sexual abuse accusations. Australian police said it had dropped a court bid to block the gathering after protesters agreed to change their initial protest route and gather in a road adjacent to St Mary’s Cathedral, the venue of the funeral service. Pell’s body has lain in state since he died at the age of 81 in a Rome hospital last month from heart complications after a hip surgery. …