People around Czechia paying their last respects to the late Cardinal Dominik Duka

People around the country have been paying their last respects to the late Cardinal Domink Duka who passed away early on Tuesday morning. Throughout the day believers, politicians and cultural and church dignitaries made their way to the seat of the Prague Archbishopric on Hradčanské Square in Prague to sign a condolence book and lay flowers in the late Cardinal’s memory.

The first entry was made by Prague Archbishop Jan Graubner who described Dominik Duka as a fighter who wasn’t afraid to stir debate. “He had the courage to take a stand, even at the risk of making mistakes or missing the mark,” Archbishop Jan Graubner said. He added that he is grateful to God “for all that was accomplished in this country through Cardinal Duka.”

Outside of the capital, the late Cardinal was remembered in masses with people laying flowers and lighting candles in their local church.

According to Vojtěch Mátl, head of Duka’s secretariat, the late Cardinal had expressed the wish to be laid to rest in St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle, where several of his predecessors are buried.

The funeral mass will take place on Saturday, November 15. Cardinal Duka will be interred in the archbishops’ crypt within the Chapel of St. Vitus. Archbishop Graubner said he expects that, on the occasion, the great bell Zikmund will ring out across Prague.