PARIS — The lilting voices of the Air France choir resounded throughout Notre Dame Cathedral on Wednesday as grieving families and others honored the victims of the flight that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean.
President Nicolas Sarkozy, first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, government officials and Air France employees were among those at the packed ecumenical service in the cathedral at the geographical center of Paris.
Mgr. Andre Vingt-Trois read a message of condolence from Pope Benedict XVI, then cited a passage from "The Little Prince” evoking the ephemeral character of life as he learns that his flower must die. The popular book was written by French aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery, whose own airplane disappeared over the Mediterranean on a reconnaissance flight in 1944.
In memory of those aboard Flight 447, 228 candles were lit "as a sign of their presence in the absence,” Vingt-Trois said.
Flight 447 disappeared with 12 crew members and 216 passengers from 32 nations on board, including 61 people from France. The Sunday night flight was bound for Paris from Rio de Janeiro when all contact was lost after it hit fierce storms over the Atlantic.
Air France employee Jean-Marc Jaouen said the service to honor the dead gave succor to the living.
"All of this, it’s hard, it’s incomprehensible, it could have happened to all of us. So we’re all here to show that we all love each other, we’re all present, a last tribute,” he told Associated Press Television News.
As the cathedral overflowed, hundreds paid their respects on the esplanade in front of the church’s elaborate facade of carved angels, saints and gargoyles.
Some were not ready to attend a service. Fabrice Monteiro, the brother of one victim, said the homage came too soon.
"The family doesn’t have time to do internal grieving before having to grieve in public,” he said.
by the associated press
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