What We Know So Far
- Cuomo's funeral is being held at St. Ignatius Loyola Church.
- Bill and Hillary Clinton, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer are in attendance.
- The funeral follows a wake on Monday that was attended by hundreds of mourners.
- Andrew Cuomo said his father thought government could be a "force for good."
Updates
ESB is lit in blue & gold tonight to honor the late Mario Cuomo, a governor who dedicated his life to #NewYork State.
#Cuomo family watches as hearse departs. @DNAinfo
Gov. Cuomo funeral procession coming out of church. #MarioCuomo
Mourners sing the final hymn at the funeral.
"I believe my father is not gone and his spirit is with us," Gov. Cuomo says.
Gov. Cuomo says that his father would want New Yorkers to come together to "move forward" and make the city a better place.
Cuomo asks his father to say hello to the two NYPD officers who were killed in an ambush last month.
"We know what we have to do and we will do it," he says. "We will make this state a better state and we will do it together."
Gov. Cuomo speaks about his father's relationship with his family. Mario Cuomo had "60-year love affair" with his wife Matilda that was "beautiful to watch," he says.
Mario Cuomo's children were everything to him, Gov. Cuomo says.
"My dad was my hero, he was my best friend, he was my confidant and my mentor, we spoke almost every day...Politics is not an easy business, it shouldn't be, but we carried the same banner...I loved winning the governorship more for him than for myself," he says.
Gov. Cuomo spoke fondly of playing basketball against his father, who he called a “tenacious” player.
Mario Cuomo had good sportsmanship, at least the next day, Gov. Cuomo said.
Gov. Cuomo says his father’s faith was important to him, and he thought the teachings of Jesus could be summed up by one word: love.
He says his father thought Jesus was likely "from an outer borough."
Gov. Cuomo says his father saw himself as a "progressive pragmatist."
Cuomo says his father was skeptical of those who saw government as a business, and wanted government to be a "force for good."
"At his core, at his best, he was a philosopher, he was a poet, he was an advocate and he was a crusader," he says.
Mario Cuomo was the son of Italian immigrants who were part of the “unwashed masses” and grew up in Queens, an outer borough of New York City, Gov. Cuomo says.
My father had a "birthmark" from an outer borough, and wore it with pride, he says.
Gov. Cuomo says his father "believed what he believed," and did not care about what people thought.
"Mario Cuomo was at peace with who he was and how he saw the world," he says.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo begins his remarks by noting how many mourners stood in the cold to pay their respects at his father’s wake Monday.
Cuomo was a family man above all else, Witt says, adding Cuomo loved his wife Matilda, five children, and 14 grandchildren "deeply."
Witt says Cuomo wanted a simple funeral with "limited fanfare," notes it was "hard to pull off."
"Despite the great successes of his career, Mario Cuomo was fundamentally a humble man," he says, noting he wants to focus on Cuomo's faith.
Cuomo's daughters Maria and Margaret deliver first and second readings at funeral.
Rev. George Witt of St. Ignatius Loyola opens funeral by saying Cuomo touched "countless others" during his life.
Bag pipes play as coffin of Mario Cuomo carried into church
Mourners wait for the funeral to begin.
New York State Police troopers stand in formation outside the St. Ignatius Loyola Church before the funeral service.
Former President Bill Clinton has arrived for the funeral.
