Memorial service held for Germanwings crash
A memorial service was held in Germany on Friday for the 150 people killed in last month's Germanwings plane crash in the French Alps.
Some 1,400 guests attended the memorial service at Cologne Cathedral, and flags were ordered flown at half-staff around the country as part of the tribute.
Archbishop of Cologne Rainer Maria Woelki said 150 candles were lit in memory of each of those who died including co-pilot Andreas Lubitz.
"It's not for us to judge," Woelki told the Bild newspaper about the decision to include a candle for Lubitz.
Investigators believe Lubitz deliberately crashed the Lufthansa-owned plane as it was flying from Barcelona to Dusseldorf on March 24.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Joachim Gauck and hundreds of dignitaries and relatives of those killed were at the service, which was also broadcast on television.
"We really don't know what was going through his (Lubitz's) head during those deciding seconds, in the deciding minutes," Gauck told the congregation.
"But we do know that his relatives also lost on March 24 a person whom they loved, who leaves a void in their lives — in a way for which they can find as little sense as all of the others' relatives," Gauck said. "Maybe that is what appalled us so much, the senselessness of what took place."
Lufthansa took out full-page advertisements in many of the country's leading newspapers expressing sympathy.
Contributing: Associated Press