Cardinal Sodano sent to Polish President's funeral
Pope Benedict XVI has delegated Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals,
to represent him at the funeral of Polish President Lech Kaczynski. The president
and his wife, Maria, were killed along with 94 others in an April 10 plane crash in
Smolensk, western Russia. A national memorial service was scheduled for Saturday
in Warsaw, followed by a Mass at St. John's Cathedral. Church bells across Poland
tolled and an emergency siren wailed on Saturday to mark the minute (8.56 a.m.) a
week ago that the plane crashed in western Russia. It was the first of two days of
sombre ceremonies. On Sunday, a state funeral in Krakow is slated to be attended
by nearly 100 foreign dignitaries, if the volcanic ash cloud emanating from Iceland
does not hamper their travel. Earlier on Thursday evening Cardinal Sodano concelebrated
a solemn Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome for the souls of the dead who perished
in the Polish plane crash. Present at the Mass were 5 cardinals and numerous priests,
officials and members of the diplomatic corps.