Cape Town bells to toll in honor of Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Bells will ring at midday in Cape Town from St. George’s Anglican Cathedral to honor Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, a day after his death

JOHANNESBURG -- Bells will ring in at midday Monday from St. George's Anglican Cathedral in Cape Town to honor Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, a day after his death at age 90.

The bells at the cathedral, where Tutu urged South Africans of all races to work together against apartheid, will toll for 10 minutes at noon for five days to mark Tutu's life.

“We ask all who hear the bells to pause their busy schedules for a moment in tribute to Archbishop Tutu,” said the current Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba.

The activist prelate worked against South Africa's apartheid regime that oppressed the country's Black majority. Following the end of apartheid in 1994, when South Africa became a democracy, Tutu chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that documented atrocities and sought to promote national reconciliation. Tutu also became one of the world's most prominent religious leaders to champion LGBTQ rights.