Pope's ambassador buried in Tipperary

The pope’s ambassador, Archbishop Michael Courtney, gunned down in a hail of bullets in Burundi, was buried in his home town today.

The priest’s body was taken to his former parish church in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, last night following a funeral service in Loughrea, Co Galway.

Today’s Mass at St Mary of the Rosary Church was celebrated by Cardinal Francis Arinze and senior Catholic Church leaders.

The Burundian government was represented by foreign minister Athanase Gahungu.

Cardinal Arinze condemned the killing but said the heinous actions of a few misguided individuals should not be allowed to mar the image of Burundians.

Archbishop Courtney’s body was received back in Ireland yesterday when a prayer service was held at Dublin airport.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern joined military personnel and relatives to pay tribute to the priest at the short service.

The Co Tipperary-born papal nuncio was shot three times, 25 miles south of the Burundi capital, Bujumbura, on Monday. He died later in hospital.

His car was sprayed with bullets in the attack, blamed on rebel National Liberation Forces, who have refused to support the peace process aimed at ending civil war.

A priest he was travelling with was reportedly slightly injured, while the driver and a hitchhiker were unharmed.

More than a thousand mourners gathered to pay their respects at Bujumbura Cathedral on Wednesday.

Archbishop Courtney, 58, is the latest of more than 200,000 people killed during a decade of violence in the tiny central African state.

Catholic primate, Archbishop Sean Brady, said Archbishop Courtney has “paid for his commitment to peace with his life“.

The Vatican has expressed “deep sorrow and dismay” over the killing and Pope John Paul described Archbishop Courtney as a “loyal and unselfish servant of the Church“.

Archbishop Courtney was ordained in 1968, and workedas a parish priest around Ireland until 1976 before joining the Pontifical Diplomatic Academy.

Beginning in 1980, he was a papal representative in South Africa, then in Zimbabwe, Senegal, India, Yugoslavia, Cuba and Egypt.

Before to going to Burundi, he worked for five years as special envoy in Strasbourg, monitoring the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights.