The Anglican Archbishop, Nobel Peace Prize winner, died this Sunday at the age of 90.
The funeral of South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, icon of the fight against the apartheid regime, will take place on Saturday January 1 in Cape Town, in St. George’s Cathedral, his former parish, its founding announced on Sunday evening. . “Arrangements for a week of mourning are still in their infancy“, Announces the foundation in a press release, while specifying”a number of events confirmed for the week ahead until the funeral of “The Arch” in Cape Town on Saturday January 1, 2022“.
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Among the announced provisions, the foundation indicates that “the bells of St. George’s Cathedral will be rung every day for ten minutes, starting at noon», All week from Monday to Friday. The current Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, “ask everyone who hears the bells to take a break from their busy schedules to pay homage to Archbishop Tutu“.
On Wednesday, the Diocese of Pretoria and the South African Council of Churches will hold a memorial service in the capital, details of which will be announced later. Thursday evening, the Archbishop Tutu IP Trust and the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, the two institutions representing the family and the legacy of Bishop Tutu, authors of the press release, will organize “an intimate evening with the friends of the archbishop»And his widow Leah Tutu.
On Friday, Bishop Tutu’s body “will rest in a fiery chapel in the cathedral“. Finally, the next day, Archbishop Makgoba will lead the funeral service for Bishop Tutu in the cathedral, the statement added.
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“A new chapter of mourning”
“There will be a period of mourning during which the national flag will be at half mast“, Also declared the president Cyril Ramaphosa during a televised speech. “This will be observed from the announcement of the formal declaration of his funeral and until the evening beforeThese ceremonies, he had specified. It is now done.
South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, icon of the struggle against apartheid and Nobel Peace Prize winner, died Sunday at the age of 90, announced President Cyril Ramaphosa. The latter expresses in a press release “on behalf of all South Africans, his deep sadness at the passing away on SundayOf this essential figure in South African history.
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“The death of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is a new chapter of mourning in our nation’s farewell to a generation of exceptional South Africans who left us a liberated South Africa», Added the president. “A man of extraordinary intelligence, upright and invincible against the forces of apartheid, he was also tender and vulnerable in his compassion for those who had suffered from oppression, injustice and violence under apartheid. , and for the oppressed and for the oppressors all over the world», Added Cyril Ramaphosa.
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“The ArchAs he was nicknamed by South Africans, had been weakened for several months. He no longer spoke in public but always greeted the cameras present at each of his travels, smiling or mischievous glance, during his vaccine against the Covid-19 in a hospital or during the office in Cape Town to celebrate his 90 years in October .
“Immeasurable” loss
In mourning, South African cricketers wore a black armband on the first day of a major competition against India near Johannesburg.
“We mourn his disappearance», Reacted the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, speaking on behalf of all people of faith«and, dare I say it, millions of people in South Africa, Africa and the world“. “As Christians and believers, we must also celebrate the life of a deeply spiritual man whose alpha and omega were his relationship with our Creator.“, he added. “He feared no one (…) He challenged the systems that demeaned humanity“, He recalled. Corn “when the perpetrators of evil experienced a real change of heart, he followed his Lord’s example and was ready to forgive“.
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The Mandela Foundation reacted quickly, calling its loss “immeasurable“:”He was larger than life, and for so many in South Africa and around the world his life was a blessing … He was an amazing human being. A thinker. A leader. A shepherd“.