Body of Thailand's acting Supreme Patriarch moves to temple

BANGKOK, August 11 (TNA) - The body of Thailand’s acting Supreme Patriarch, Somdej Phra Buddhacharn, also known as Somdej Kiew, was moved early Sunday to Wat Saket Raj Wora Maha Wihan in central Bangkok for religious rites due to start later in the day. 85-year-old revered Somdej Kiew passed away early Saturday from blood infection and heart failure at Bangkok’s Smitivej. He was also abbot of Wat Saket Raj Wora Maha Wihan. Senior monks including Phra Phrom Suthee, assistant abbot of Wat Saket Raj Wora Maha Wihan, and several followers of the revered monk such as Deputy Prime Minister Phongthep Thepkanjana joined in religious rites in moving the body to the temple. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn is scheduled to preside over the Royal bathing rites ceremony, sponsored by Their Majesties King and Queen, at the temple Sunday evening. Somdej Kiew, a native of southern Surat Thani province, had been appointed acting Supreme Patriarch since 2004 after the Supreme Patriarch, His Holiness Somdet Phra Yanasangvara fell ill and admitted at a Bangkok hospital about two years earlier. (TNA)