BY Ian Dunn | March 21 | 
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Martin McGuinness was a man of prayer who strove for peace, says archbishop
Following the death of Martin McGuinness at the age of 66, Archbishop Eamon Martin has said the former Northern Irish Deputy First Minister was 'a man of prayer' who knew that 'peace was worth striving for'.
In a statement a statement released on the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference website, the Primate of All Ireland said: ‘Like many people I was shocked before Christmas to hear about the serious illness of Martin McGuinness, and, despite our hopes and prayers for his recovery, today I am saddened to learn that he has died. My first thoughts are with his dear wife Bernie, his children, grandchildren, brothers and sister, and all his many friends and loved ones’.
The archbishop said that he will remember McGuinness ‘as someone who chose personally to leave behind the path of violence and to walk instead along the more challenging path of peace and reconciliation’.
He added: ‘As a leader he was courageous and took risks in order to bring others with him, convincing them that goals could be achieved by politics and persuasion. He channelled his many gifts into creating and sustaining the peace process of which he was one of the key architects’.
A commander in the Irish Republican Army during the Troubles, McGuinness later embraced political life and served as Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister for a decade in a power-sharing government.
McGuinness suffered from amyloidosis, a rare disease with a strain specific to Ireland’s north-west. The chemotherapy required to combat the formation of organ-choking protein deposits quickly sapped him of strength and forced him to start missing government appointments.
“The story of conflict in Ireland has brought much pain and trauma and I thank God that in recent years we have preferred peace to the horror of violence and war,” Archbishop Martin said. “People like Martin McGuinness have made an immense contribution to sustaining peace by reaching out a hand of friendship and reconciliation and being prepared to model alternatives to dispute and division.”
Prime Minister Theresa May said although she could never “condone the path he took in the earlier part of his life, Martin McGuinness ultimately played a defining role in leading the republican movement away from violence”.
“In doing so, he made an essential and historic contribution to the extraordinary journey of Northern Ireland from conflict to peace,” she added.
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