Mbeki leads mourning for Pope

2005-04-03 22:30

Johannesburg - South African President Thabo Mbeki led national mourning for Pope John Paul II, the pontiff who often denounced apartheid and later praised the country's peaceful transition to democracy.

"The government and the people of South Africa acknowledge the cardinal role that His Holiness played in his efforts to strengthen the moral fibre among Catholics, people of all faiths and humanity in general," Mbeki said on Sunday.

"We express our appreciation for the role played by His Holiness in pursuit of global peace, development and co-operation among nations of the world including his support for Africa's development and renewal," he said.

The country's ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, whose former leader Nelson Mandela met the pope on more than one occasion, extended "its condolences and sympathies to members of the Catholic faith".

"The African National Congress joins millions around the world in mourning the death last night of Pope John Paul II, a widely respected and admired world leader," the ANC said in a statement.

In Cape Town, Nobel peace laureate and retired Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu said he hoped an African would succeed John Paul II, who died late on Saturday.

"We hope the cardinals when they meet will follow the first non-Italian pope by electing the first African pope," public broadcaster SABC TV news quoted Tutu as saying at a press conference in his Cape Town home.

Black candidate

Nigeria's Cardinal Francis Arinze, a 72-year-old archconservative and number four in the current Vatican hierarchy, is seen as the wider world's best candidate to oppose an Italian comeback in the leadership of the Holy See.

The leader of South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, Tony Leon, also mourned the demise of the Pope.

"Along with millions of Catholics in South Africa - and billions of Christians around the world - we join in celebrating the extraordinary life and moral and religious leadership of the pontiff," said Leon in a statement.

John Paul II made his first visit to South Africa in 1995, a year after the end of some five decades of racist white minority rule, after years of voicing his opposition to apartheid.

- AFP