South Africa bids farewell to anti-apartheid icon Desmond Tutu | Desmond New Pipes

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Tutu’s death caused grief among South Africans, among world leaders, for their lives spent fighting injustice.

South Africa has begun to say goodbye to the archbishop Desmond Tutu, the last great the hero the struggle against apartheid, without a pomp but full of tears and in a rain-soaked funeral.

Funerals began with an anthem and a procession of clergymen along the aisle to burn incense and carry candles to the church, which will also bury Tutu on Saturday.

Tutu he died At the age of 90 last Sunday, South Africa caused grief and tributes to world leaders. life spent in the fight against injustice.

Famous for his humility, Tutu gave instructions for a simple and straightforward ceremony, with a cheap coffin, charitable donations instead of flower tributes, and an organic cremation.

The Requiem Mass began at 10:00 (08:00 GMT) at St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, where, for years, Tutu used the pulpit to oppose the savage white minority regime.

They will bury him there.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, who gave Tuturi a special category funeral, usually nominated for presidents and very important people, described the Nobel Peace Prize-winning icon as a man of “high moral standing.”

“If we understand that a global icon is someone of high moral standing, extraordinary qualities, and someone at the service of humanity, there is no doubt that he is referring to the man we are resting on today,” Ramaphosa said.

“Tutu was certainly a crossroads in the struggle for freedom, justice, equality and peace, not only in South Africa … but all over the world.

“[He was] how humble and courageous a man who spoke for the oppressed, the oppressed, and the suffering of the world, how proper it is for his parents to be called Mpilo when he was born, which means life. ‘

Ramaphosa then presented Tutu’s widow, Leah, with a six-colored South African flag, which prompted Tutu to invent the term “rainbow nation” to describe the peaceful coexistence of many South African population groups after apartheid.

“When we were in the dark, it brought light,” said Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Anglican Church around the world, in a video message displayed at a requiem mass in honor of Tutu at St. George’s Cathedral on Saturday.

“Praising him is like paying tribute to an elephant,” Welby said. “South Africa has given us unparalleled examples of the rainbow nation’s great leaders with President Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Tutu … The lights of many Nobel laureates have faded over time, but Archbishop Tutu’s has been brighter.”

‘The soul is welcome’

South Africa has been in mourning for a week and has been lying down for two days.

Several thousand people, some of whom had traveled the country, passed by a small coffin with a rope handle made of pine trees, simply decorated with a bunch of carnations.

Under a gray, drizzle sky, mourning poured into the cathedral. Rain, according to historian Khaya Ndwandwe, is “a blessing” and shows that Tutu’s “soul is welcome” to heaven.

The mourning was attended by close friends and relatives, clergymen and guests, including former Irish President Mary Robinson, who is to read a prayer.

The other mourners were Elita, the widow of the last FW de Klerk apartheid leader who died in November.

Outside the funeral is one of Tutu’s best friends, the Dalai Lama. He did not travel due to his advanced age and restrictions on COVID, his representative Ngodup Dorjee told AFP news agency outside the church.

A longtime friend of Tutu, retired Bishop Michael Nuttall, who was the Archbishop of the Anglican Church when he was Archbishop of Cape Town, will give a sermon.

The two formed a strong relationship, for many figuring out how a white leader could work for a black leader. Nuttall continued to write a memoir called Tutu’s Number Two about their friendship.