Kennedy laid to rest at Arlington Cemetery
BOSTON -- Sen. Edward Kennedy was laid to rest Saturday night alongside his slain brothers at Arlington National Cemetery, as Cardinal Theodore McCarrick read words Kennedy had penned to Pope Benedict XVI.
Kennedy wrote in the letter, "I want you to know, Your Holiness, that in my nearly 50 years of elective office, I have done my best to champion the rights of the poor and open doors of economic opportunity. I've worked to welcome the immigrant, fight discrimination and expand access to health care and education. I have opposed the death penalty and fought to end war. Those are the issues that have motivated me and been the focus of my work as a United States Senator."
"I know that I have been an imperfect human being but with the help of my faith I have tried to right my path," the dying senator wrote, adding that his Roman Catholic faith "has sustained and nurtured and provided solace to me in the darkest hours." He contacted the spiritual leader "with deep humility to ask that you pray for me as my own health declines. Although I continue treatment, the disease is taking its toll on me. I am 77 years old and preparing for the next passage of life."
The archbishop emeritus of Washington also read the Vatican's response, silencing reports that Kennedy's letter was unanswered. In the reply, "his Holiness prays that in the days ahead you may be sustained in faith and hope."
Kennedy's freshly excavated grave site lies 100 feet from his brother Robert, killed in 1968 while running for president, and is another 100 feet to the eternal flame that has burned since his brother John's assassination in 1963.
As darkness settled over the final resting place of America's fallen troops, a squad of seven riflemen fired three volleys in a traditional military funeral ritual, and a bugler sounded taps. Lightning flickered across the sky.
At a packed funeral Mass earlier Saturday in his hometown, Edward Kennedy was remembered as a fierce competitor, a tender-hearted father, and, in the words of President Obama, "the greatest legislator of all time."
