Funeral mass for Irish aid worker Hassan
Saturday, 11 December 2004 22:24
A requiem mass has taken place in Westminster Cathedral for Margaret Hassan, the Irish-born aid worker believed to have been killed by her captors in Iraq.
The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, said that Mrs Hassan had become a symbol of goodness and called her a peacemaker in a time of seemingly endless wars.
Family and friends of Mrs Hassan attended the service. As her body has not been found, a picture of her was placed by the altar instead of a coffin.
The Government was represented at the mass by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O'Donoghue.
Mrs Hassan, who was 59 and held Irish, British and Iraqi nationality, had been living in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, for 30 years.
She worked as the country director of Care International in Iraq. She was kidnapped on 19 October as she was being driven to her office.
