12/27/21 - Archbishop Desmond Tutu Passes Away

Funeral for Archbishop Desmond Tutu is set for Saturday.

-Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Anglican cleric, has passed away.  He was 90.

In a statement confirming his death on Sunday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his condolences to Tutu's family and friends, calling him "a patriot without equal."

 "A man of extraordinary intellect, integrity and invincibility against the forces of apartheid, he was also tender and vulnerable in his compassion for those who had suffered oppression, injustice and violence under apartheid, and oppressed and downtrodden people around the world," Ramaphosa said.

Tutu had been in ill health for years.                                                                                                                                                                                In 2013, he underwent tests for a persistent infection, and he was admitted to hospital several times in following years.

Most notably, he received the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize. 

Bells rang at midday Monday from St. George’s Anglican Cathedral in Cape Town to honor Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.  The cathedral, where Tutu urged South Africans of all races to work together against apartheid. 

Several events in South Africa are being planned to honor Tutu’s life.

Tutu’s body will lie in state at the cathedral in Cape Town on Friday before a requiem mass is held Saturday.  In addition, an ecumenical service will be held for Tutu on Wednesday in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria.

South Africans are laying flowers at the cathedral, in front of Tutu’s home in Cape Town’s Milnerton area, and in front of his former home in Soweto.