JOHANNESBURG — A South African archbishop who visited Nelson Mandela in a hospital has offered a prayer in which he wishes for a "peaceful, perfect, end" for the former president and anti-apartheid leader.
Thabo Makgoba, the Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, posted the prayer on Facebook on Tuesday night after visiting the 94-year-old Mandela, who is critically ill.
In the prayer, Makgoba asks for courage to be granted to Mandela's wife, Graca Machel, and others who love him "at this hard time of watching and waiting."
The archbishop says: "Grant him, we pray, a quiet night and a peaceful, perfect, end."
He also appeals for divine guidance for the doctors treating Mandela, who was taken to a hospital in Pretoria on June 8 with what the government described as a lung infection.
South African archbishop prays for Mandela
A woman from a community group from Pretoria holds a candle as others sing religious songs to show their appreciation and support for former South African President Nelson Mandela, on the street outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where he is being treated in Pretoria, South Africa Tuesday, June 25, 2013. AP/Ben Curtis