2010-04-17 14:59:34

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.







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