Cardinal Frederic Etsou was laid to rest today in the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Kinshasa.

Today's ceremony marked the final moments of a week-long emotional commemoration of only the 2nd post-colonial prelate of the Catholic Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

On Sunday, more than 80.000 parishioners attended a memorial mass presided by Mgr. Daniel Nlandu at the Martyrs' Stadium in Kinshasa.

Pope Benedict XVI has chosen Mgr. Nlandu as the temporary administrator of the diocese until a permanent choice is named in the coming months.

Cardinal Frederic Etsou died Dec. 6 at the University Hospital of Leuven in Belgium, he was 76.