During the Angelus with pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square yesterday, the pope expressed his concern and prayers for the estimated tens of thousands of people dead and others affected by Super Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated parts of the central Philippines over the weekend.
“I wish to express my closeness to the people of the Philippines and that region that has been hit by a terrible typhoon. Unfortunately the victims are many and the damage is enormous,” he said.
He asked the tens of thousands of people gathered in the square to join him in a moment of silent prayer “for these brothers and sisters and let’s try also to make our concrete help reach them.”
In response to the tragedy, Pope Francis made an initial donation of $150,000 for the relief efforts through the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.
The money, sent through the local churches hardest hit by the storm, was earmarked to support “assistance for the displaced and those impacted by the flooding,” the Vatican said in a written statement."
1 comment:
No one will say it but the most loving thing possible is that the Pope join with the Phillipine government and require through zoning laws and moral exhortation that all affected people move further inland and after that, require that they build family storm cellars built away from such wood houses. The Pope has 1.3 billion Catholics. If he called on every single worldwide Catholic to give five dollars through the Vatican, that would be several billion dollars allowing for some not giving. We are not using our numbers effectively to prevent such tragedies in the future. If these 98% Catholic residents rebuild there at Tacloban, we as a group are in denial....and it will happen again...even just several years from now.
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