An emotional Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on Friday marked his 85th birthday by delivering a sermon at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa.
Africa’s most famous cleric fought back tears as he noted “I have reached the stage in life when I am closer to the departure hall than the arrival hall.”
The Nobel Laureate was discharged from hospital late last month following three weeks of treatment for a recurring infection.
He has also been suffering from prostate cancer for several years. The liberation hero who became the first black Anglican archbishop of Cape Town arrived at the service in a wheelchair and mingled with well-wishers before and after service.
President Jacob Zuma led the tributes to Tutu, saying “he (Tutu) has contributed immensely to the freedom and democratic dispensation” of South Africa and “he continues to inspire the nation and the world in the promotion of human rights, justice and the wellbeing of all”.
Former President FW De Klerk who also won the Nobel Peace Prize acknowledged “his valuable role as a peacemaker, as well as his contribution towards goodwill between all South Africans, and towards South Africa’s constitutional democracy”.
Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism in 1986, the Pacem in Terris Award in 1987, the Sydney Peace Prize in 1999, the Gandhi Peace Prize in 2007 and South Africa Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.
He is widely regarded as “South Africa’s moral conscience” and was described by the late President Nelson Mandela as “the voice of the voiceless”.
Source PANA
Photo credit: Benny Gool
