On January 8 at 5 p.m. –Rome time- at the altar of the Cathedra in the Vatican Basilica, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State, will celebrate a Mass for the repose of the soul of Archbishop Michael Courtney, Apostolic Nuncio in Burundi, slain on December 29, 2003.

Meanwhile, Vatican Radio aired an interview this Monday with Bishop Bernard Bududira of Bururi, in Burundi, who openly blamed a group of rebels from the Hutu ethnic group for the murder of Archbishop Courtney.

“There are no doubts that the (Hutu-controlled) National Liberation Front was behind the murder,” because “neither the police nor the army had any information about the movements of the Archbishop,” Bududira told the Vatican Radio.