Obama pays tribute to Kennedy
President Barack Obama paid tribute to the “greatest legislator of our time” today, eulogising Edward Kennedy in front of hundreds of mourners.
Three former presidents joined around 1,500 invited guests inside Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston to honour the memory of the former senator.
Mr Kennedy died on Tuesday aged 77 after a prolonged battle with brain cancer.
Today’s memorial mass follows two days of his body lying in repose at the John F Kennedy Library and Museum during which thousands came by to pay their final respects.
The event was a grand affair, befitting the man whose 47-year political career spanned the assassinations of his brothers, the growth of the civil rights movement, the end of the cold war and the landmark election of a black president.
The mass was presided over by seven priests, 11 pallbearers and 29 honorary pallbearers. Tenor Placido Domingo sang, while acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma also provided music for the occasion.
Watched on by former presidents George W Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, the current incumbent paid tribute to Edward Kennedy’s qualities as a family man, a politician and a friend.
Mr Obama said: “Though it is Ted Kennedy’s historic body of achievement we will remember, it is his giving heart that we will miss.”
He called on Americans to take the lifelong politician and campaigner’s legacy forward.
With reference to the losses that the Kennedy family has endured over the years, Mr Obama said: “We do not weep for him today because of the prestige attached to his name or his office.
“We weep because we loved this kind and tender hero who persevered through pain and tragedy – not for the sake of ambition or vanity; not for wealth or power; but only for the people and the country he loved.”
The church was filled with family, friends and leading politicians from the US and overseas.
Among those attending were Taoiseach Brian Cowen and the North's Secretary of State Shaun Woodward.
Following the ceremony, Mr Kennedy’s body was being flown to Washington for a motorcade through the capital and on to the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia where he will be buried next to his slain brothers John F Kennedy and Robert Kennedy.
