Poland pays tribute to late Solidarity icon Bronislaw Geremek at funeral Mass in Warsaw

Hundreds of friends and admirers packed a church in Warsaw's historic old town on Monday for the funeral of Solidarity icon and former Polish Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek.

Geremek was highly respected as a scholar, statesman and key adviser in the Soviet bloc's first free trade union, Solidarity, which helped topple communism in Poland and across the Soviet bloc. Since 2004, he had also served as a member of the European Parliament.

The 76-year-old died July 13 in a car accident in western Poland.

President Lech Kaczynski, Prime Minister Donald Tusk and former President Lech Walesa were among the dignitaries at the funeral Mass held in St. John's Cathedral.

Geremek's coffin, draped in Poland's red and white national flag, was flanked by four rifle-bearing soldiers standing at attention.

"What I'll tell you today is of no use to you, but conscience demands the truth in the face of death: in my view, you were the greatest of Poles, the greatest of patriots," Walesa said. "I thank God that I met you."

Warsaw archbishop Kazimierz Nycz, who led the Mass, read a letter from the Vatican noting Pope Benedict XVI's sadness upon hearing of "the tragic death" of Geremek, who was also a widely respected medieval historian.

"His departure is a huge lost to the world of scholarship and politics in Poland and Europe," the letter read.

Members of the Solidarity trade union, one in a yellow worker's helmet and others holding up union banners, stood to the side of the church in homage to Geremek.

He was to be buried at Warsaw's historic Powazki cemetery.