Archbishop Prays for 'Peaceful End' for Mandela

As South Africa braces for a farewell to Nelson Mandela, an archbishop visited him at the hospital to pray for a "peaceful, perfect end" for the former president. Mandela was recently reported to be in critical condition, and there has been no update on the 94-year-old's condition since then, the AP reports. Members of Mandela's family, including his grandsons, met with tribal elders in Mandela's rural hometown yesterday, but no details of the meeting have been given.

In his prayer, posted to Facebook, Thabo Makgoba, the Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, asked for courage for Mandela's wife and divine assistance for his doctors. "May your blessing rest upon Madiba [Mandela's clan name] now and always," Makgoba said in the prayer, adding a wish that the former leader would be relieved from pain and suffering. "Grant him, we pray, a quiet night and a peaceful, perfect, end." President Obama left for Africa today, and will be available to meet with Mandela, but only if his family wants a meeting, Reuters reports. (More Nelson Mandela stories.)