'A moral giant': South Africans pay their respects to Tutu
ABC News
South Africans of all walks of life are paying their respects to Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Anglican archbishop whose plain pine casket is on view Friday in St. George’s Anglican Cathedral in Cape Town
CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- South Africans of all walks of life are paying their respects to Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Anglican archbishop whose plain pine casket is on view Friday in St. George's Anglican Cathedral in Cape Town.
“He was a moral giant. He was a moral and spiritual giant loved and revered for fighting for equality for all people,” said the Rev. Michael Lapsley, on the steps of the historic stone cathedral after Tutu's coffin was carried in amid music, incense and prayers.
Anglican clergy — women and men, Black and white, young and old — lined the street to honor the cortege carrying Tutu's body to the church. Members of the Tutu family accompanied the casket into the cathedral.
People began filing through the lofty cathedral to light candles and view the small, simple coffin with rope handles which Tutu had said he wanted to avoid any ostentation or lavish expenditure. Many sat in the pews to pray and reflect on Tutu's life.
