Slain Burundi ambassador recalled for commitment to peace and justice

Published: 2004-01-06

DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) --Archbishop Michael A. Courtney, the slain Vatican ambassador to Burundi, was remembered as a man committed to peace and justice. The 58-year-old archbishop, whom the Vatican said was about to be named the papal nuncio to Cuba, died Dec. 29 after being struck by numerous bullets shot at the car he was riding in while returning to Bujumbura, Burundi's capital. Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, celebrated the funeral Mass in St. Mary of the Rosary Church in Nenagh. Cardinal Arinze had ordained the slain nuncio as an archbishop in 2000. "I cried for this heinous act of a few tragically misguided people in Burundi, people of violence who must not be allowed to give a negative image of a whole people," Cardinal Arinze said.

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