Funeral ceremony of Cardinal Józef Glemp, the Primate of Poland

On 28 January 2013 at 11:00 the funeral ceremony of Cardinal Józef Glemp began. The mass included such guests as the Metropolitan of Cologne, Cardinal Joachim Meisner; the Metropolitan of Barcelona, Cardinal Lluis Martinez Sistach; the Archbishop of Prague and the Primate of the Czech Republic, Cardinal Dominik Duka; the Primate of Hungary, the Metropolitan of Budapest, Cardinal Peter Erd; the Archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanic; and the President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko of Rome.

The funeral mass was celebrated by the Metropolitan of Cracow, Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz and the homily was given by the Primate of Poland, Archbishop Józef Kowalczyk. The Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Apostolic Nuncio in Poland, read the letter from Benedict XVI in which the Pope expressed deep sadness caused by the Cardinal’s death.

The ceremony was honoured by the representatives of the state authorities, including among others Roman Giertych, the Marshal of the Senate Bogdan Borusewicz, Bronisław and Anna Komorowski, Ewa Kopacz, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, Jarosław Kaczyński and Janusz Piechociński.

Around 13:30 the funeral ceremony came to an end and a coffin with the body of the Cardinal was laid in a crypt at the Saint John Archcathedral in Warsaw. We assisted at the entire ceremony.

The ceremony can be watched in the video below, recorded by Trwam television channel.

The Cardinal was buried in a specially designed simple coffin, referred to as the “Cardinal” since then.