Mass for Osama bin Laden?

A church near Dublin, Ireland, was left red faced this week after an announcement for a Mass dedicated to Osama bin Laden was mistakenly sent out in its parish newsletter.

Residents of the small seaside town of Howth were taken aback to see the al-Qaida leader, shot dead by U.S. Navy SEALs last week, in the list of recently deceased to be remembered at the Parish Church of the Assumption this week.

The newsletter gave mention of two Masses that would be held for bin Laden on Thursday at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m.

The notice appeared alongside the more typical church newsletter announcements of forthcoming communions and confirmations, and also appeared on the church’s website.

It sparked a discussion on Twitter as to whether it was appropriate for a church to be devoting a Mass to the world's most wanted terrorist.

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Dublin said the notice had been sent out without the sanction of parish priest Msgr. Brendan Houlihan and that the bulletin may have been tampered with prior to dispatch.

The spokesperson said: “You can take it that the Mass won’t be going ahead; that’s definite.”

Bin Laden, who claimed responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that took the lives of nearly 3,000 people in the U.S., was killed Sunday, May 1, in his compound in Pakistan. Al-Qaida confirmed the death of their leader last week and vowed to continue attacking the U.S.

President Barack Obama pledged to defeat the terrorist network. "We have cut off their head and we will ultimately defeat them."