VATICAN (SE): On April 17, the day of the funeral for Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh, at Windsor Castle, the United Kingdom, a remembrance service was held in Rome’s All Saints’ Anglican Church, Vatican News reported on April 17. The husband of Queen Elizabeth, died on April 9, at the age of 99.
The Vatican’s secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, participated in the memorial service in Rome. He said, “The passing of Prince Philip is such an event in the forest of our contemporary history and society.”
Prince Philip was “present in so many ways and on so many occasions and scenes,” the archbishop said, adding that “for most of us he has remained indelibly, through many changes and years, the Prince Consort. A role, not an office, at the side of a queen who reigns but does not rule.”
“I think St. Paul and Prince Philip would have hit it off very well,” the archbishop mused, noting that they were “both straight talkers with a penchant for a little controversy.”
“For the naval commander, the consort, the father of a great family, for the leader in benevolence and education the battle is over…The great tree may have fallen but it leaves its mark and encourages fresh growth towards the heavens,” Archbishop Gallagher concluded.
