DILI (CNS): About 1000 people, including government officials and President Xanana Gusmao, attended a Mass for national reconciliation at Dili’s cathedral.
The July 25 Mass was to remember about 20 people killed in recent months during violence that divided the largely Catholic nation.
It also marked a formal end to hostilities that had occurred since April.
During the memorial service, President Gusmao placed flowers on the altar, and the choir sang as Leonia Falcao carried a bundle of flowers and her father’s photo up the aisle.
Martinho Falcao, 43, was among nine police officers gunned down by soldiers on May 25 in Dili.
Bishop Alberto Ricardo da Silva of Dili, who celebrated the Mass, urged the congregation to pray for those who had died due to the country’s political and leadership crisis.
Outside the cathedral after Mass, President Gusmao told journalists the state wished to honour those who had died, but he acknowledged that this was small consolation for grieving family members.
