(17 July 2011, Sunday)
Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders have gathered in prayer at the Vienna church where the coffins of the son of Austria’s last emperor and last member of the dynasty ruled for more than seven centuries until the end of World War I.
Praying Thursday for Otto Von Habsburg and his wife, Regina, were Auxiliary Bishop Stephan Turnovszky, Rabbi Steven Langnas and Chief Mufti Mustafa Ceric of Sarajevo.
Karl Habsburg, the oldest son of the late couple, said his father believed in religious tolerance, noting that the Austro-Hungarian empire encompassed believers of all three religions. Habsburg died July 4 at age 98 in southern Germany.