Tributes to Nelson Mandela have been pouring in from around the world, including from the religious community. Pope Francis praised Mandela for promoting human dignity and forging a new South Africa “built on the firm foundations of nonviolence, reconciliation, and truth.” Other religious leaders called him an example of overcoming hatred and bitterness in order to promote the common good. In South Africa, Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu said his close friend’s legacy of peace and forgiveness will live on. Mandela was 95 years old. He led South Africa out of the apartheid rule of its white minority over the black majority and into a multiracial democracy, and he achieved that transition peacefully, without a civil war.
