Family and Leaders Pay Kennedy Tribute

BOSTON (AP) - A funeral Mass memorializing the life and times of Sen. Edward Kennedy went underway Saturday morning in his beloved Massachusetts.

A priest, standing by Kennedy's flag-draped coffin, said, "We welcome the body of our friend."

Hundreds of mourners, led by President Barack Obama and three former presidents, dozens of members of Congress and former congressmen, family, friends and associates, were present for the Mass celebrating Kennedy's life on a cool, rainy day.

Neither of Sen. Ted Kennedy's colleagues from Texas, Republican Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, attended the Massachusetts senator's funeral in Boston on Saturday.

Hutchison, who is running for governor, is attending private meetings in Texas. An aide to Cornyn confirmed via e-mail that the senator would not be traveling to Boston for the funeral but did not say why.

Saturday’s funeral Mass is among a series of large-scale public tributes to the 77-year-old Kennedy, who failed in his attempt to quest for the presidency in 1980 but went on to become one of the most storied legislators in the annals of America.