Prague, March 22 (CTK) – People will have an opportunity to pay their last respects to the Cardinal, former Prague Archbishop and Czech Catholic Church Primate, Miloslav Vlk, who died aged 84 on March 18, in two churches in Prague on Thursday and Friday, Stanislav Zeman, told CTK on Wednesday.
Stanislav Zeman, spokesman for the Prague Archbishopric, said on Thursday, Vlk’s remains will be displayed in an open coffin at the St Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle from 17:00 until 20:00 CEST.
On Friday, the closed coffin will be displayed in the St Benedict’s Church at Hradcany from 15:00 until 21:00.
The funeral in the St Vitus Cathedral on Saturday is to be unpretentious. Vlk’s relatives and collaborators are preparing it in harmony with his attitude to similar ceremonies and life.
No large baroque Requiem accompanied by the smell of frank incense will be played during the funeral, but rather folk music, Zeman said.
Before the funeral, a liturgical procession will leave the seat of the Prague Archbishopric at Hradcany Square at 11:00. It will pass through the castle courtyards to the St Vitus’ Cathedral. The coffin will not be carried, it will be ready and decorated in the cathedral.
After the funeral, Vlk’s remains will be placed in the Archbishops’ tomb in the cathedral.
Along with Cardinal and Prague Archbishop Dominik Duka, who will celebrate the requiem mass for Vlk, Olomouc Archbishop Jan Graubner and Plzen Bishop Emeritus Frantisek Radkovsky will attend the funeral.
Bishops of the Bohemian and Moravian dioceses as well as cardinals and bishops from abroad and from the Focolare movement will concelebrate the mass, Zeman told CTK on Wednesday.
The Prague Archbishopric said German Emeritus Archbishop of Cologne Joachim Meisner and Emeritus Archbishop of Cracow Stanislaw Dziwisz, former personal secretary of the late Pope John Paul II, will attend the funeral.
Bangkok Archbishop Cardinal Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovitvanit, a representative of the Focolare movement, to which Vlk claimed allegiance, is also expected to arrive.
In addition to clergymen and political and cultural representatives, many pilgrims will attend the funeral.
Special entries in the Prague Castle complex will be opened for them. The cathedral will be open from 9:45 CEST. The funeral will be broadcast live by public Czech Television (CT).
President Milos Zeman will not take part in the funeral, he will send a wreath instead. Cardinal Vlk criticised Zeman several times in the past.
