Kennedy to Pope: Pray for Me

Senator wrote letter delivered by Obama
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 30, 2009 10:00 AM CDT
Kennedy to Pope: Pray for Me
President Barack Obama meets Pope Benedict XVI, Friday, July 10, 2009, at the Vatican.    (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

In the months before he died, Ted Kennedy penned a letter to Pope Benedict beseeching the pontiff's prayers—and enlisted no less a messenger than the leader of the free world to deliver it, reports CNN. “I am writing with deep humility to ask that you pray for me as my own health declines,” Kennedy wrote in the letter Barack Obama hand-delivered in July. “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 senator highlighted his efforts in the Senate and his deep commitment to his faith. “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,” he wrote in the letter, read at his burial at Arlington National Cemetery. The Vatican responded, saying the pope “prays that in the days ahead, you may be sustained in faith and hope.”
(More Ted Kennedy stories.)

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