(Vatican Radio) World leaders join stars from the film and music industry, plus tens
of thousands of South Africans today, to honour Nelson Mandela in a memorial service
that will celebrate his gift for bringing enemies together across political and racial
divides. The former South African president and Nobel peace laureate died last Thursday
at the age of 95.
US President Barack Obama and three of his predecessors
flew into Johannesburg, together with some 90 other world leaders expected to take
part in the ceremony at the Soccer City Stadium. It’s the same venue where, 23 years
ago, Mandela, just freed from his apartheid jail, was hailed by cheering supporters
as the hope for a new, democratic, multi-racial South Africa. Coinciding with
the U.N Human Rights Day, the memorial service in the 95,000-seat stadium is the
centrepiece of a week of mourning for Mandela. Despite a steady rain on Tuesday morning,
the stadium was filled with people who gathered early to celebrate the life and legacy
of the man who became a global symbol of forgiveness and reconciliation. Giant
screens in three other stadiums in Johannesburg, will relay the memorial service,
to others following events from around the country. A huge security operation is in
force, with private cars banned from the area around the Soccer City stadium and people
being urged to use public transport. South African President Jacob Zuma will give
the keynote address, while U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will also speak – he’s
expected to hold Mandela's example up as a beacon of justice, equality and human rights. Pope
Francis has sent Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Justice
and Peace Council as the Holy See’s representative to the memorial service. After
Tuesday's event, Mandela's remains will lie in state for three days at the Union Buildings
in Pretoria, where he was sworn in as president in 1994. He will then be buried on
Sunday in the village of Qunu, his ancestral home in the hills of the Eastern Cape
province, south of Johannesburg.