I found the above article of Peter's. He states the following reason that Kennedy's funeral was licit:
Mark Leibovich of the New York Times notes that, among things, “The Rev. Mark Hession, the priest at the Kennedys’ parish on the Cape, made regular visits to the Kennedy home this summer and held a private family Mass in the living room every Sunday. Even in his final days, Mr. Kennedy led the family in prayer after the death of his sister Eunice . . . [and when] the senator’s condition took a turn Tuesday night a priest, the Rev. Patrick Tarrant of Our Lady of Victory Church in Centerville, was called to his bedside.”
My contention is that a notorius public sinner needs to make public repentance for his notorius sins; e.g., a public pronouncement that abortion is evil, it is murder, I repent of having voted for abortion, for my 100% approval rating by NARAL, and I now encourage all citizens to vote pro-life to protect the unborn.
I remember the Kennedy abomination, the spectacle, the accolades, etc.
Being a New Yorker, I also remember the Catholic send-off given to Governor Mario Cuomo
His wake was held on January 5, 2015, and his funeral was held at Saint Ignatius Loyola Church in Manhattan on January 6.
Cuomo, a Roman Catholic, was personally opposed to abortion, but he was pro-choice on the issue, believing that the State does not have the right to ban it.
In a speech at the University of Notre Dame on September 13, 1984, he used the statements of the American Catholic hierarchy to make an argument: “What is ideally desirable isn’t always feasible, ... there can be different political approaches to abortion besides unyielding adherence to an absolute prohibition.”
For this position, Cardinal John Joseph O’Connor considered excommunicating him.
He is interred at St. John RC Cemetery , in Middle Village, Queens.
” My contention is that a notorious public sinner needs to make public repentance for his notorious sins ...”
We don’t know if that was discussed at his last confession, I sure hope it was!