STAMFORD, 20 (NE) Around 800 people gathered this weekend in Stamford, Connecticut, for the funeral service of Cardinal Ignatius Kung Pin-mei, "outstanding witness of communion with the universal Church and the Successor of Peter," as Pope John Paul II recalled last week in a telegram sent after the Chinese Cardinal's death.

    The ceremony was presided by Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and Papal envoy for the occasion. Cardinal Stafford praised Cardinal Kung's "witness to the truth." He also recalled the former Bishop of Shanghai as a "noble son of China and of the Church." The ceremony took place on March 18 in the Saint John the Evangelist Church in Stamford, where the Cardinal lived his last years.