MORE THAN a thousand people have attended the funeral Mass of a Honduran bishop killed in a car crash.
Franciscan Bishop Virgilio Lopez Irias of Trujillo was recalled by mourners as a “man of peace”.
More than 1,200 people attended the Mass, held last week in Trujillo’s St John the Baptist Cathedral. Before the funeral and final interment, the bishop’s body lay in the cathedral for mourners to view.
Among the mourners was a delegation from the Diocese of Dallas, which maintained a sister relationship with the Trujillo Diocese.
Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa said in his homily: “Death is not a sad thing for the religious nor for the priest.
“It is just a final, definitive ‘yes’ to God’s will. Today is not a failure day, but of triumph, because this man, this holy bishop, enters God’s peace in the heavenly home.” Fr Juan Angel Lopez, chancellor of the Tegucigalpa Archdiocese, added: “We have lost a worthy son of St Francis of Assisi.” The funeral included an hour-long procession through Trujillo’s streets led by a vehicle carrying the bishop’s coffin and followed by family members.