Pope Benedict XVI has said on Wednesday he would soon visit the areas hit by the devastating quake in Italy's central Abruzzo region which have killed more than 251 people, injured 1,500 others and have left at least 20,000 others homeless.Between 20-30 people are still missing.
"Dearest all, I will be visiting you as soon as I can. Know that the Pope prays for all of you, asking for the lord's mercy for the deceased, the family and those who survived, the maternal comfort of Mary and the support of the Christian family," said Benedict during an audience.
"I once again renew my spiritual proxmity to the beloved community of L'Aquila and its outlying villages, so severely affected by the violent earthquake of recent days, which has caused numerous victims, many injured and enormous material damage," he said.
Meanwhile, the head of the Vatican's press office, Federico Lombardi on Wednesday said the papal visit would be "soon", but a date had not been set.
"It will be soon but not right away, we do not have a fixed date yet," said Lombardi.
He added that the visit will not take place during the Easter period this week or next.
In addition, a state funeral will be held on Friday for the victims of the quake tragedy in L'Aquila. A representative from the Vatican - on behalf of Pope Benedict - will be attending the funeral.
Fresh aftershocks with a magnitude of 3.5 hit Abruzzo on Wednesday as rescuers continued to comb the rubble for survivors.
The latest tremor occurred at 6:27am local time in L'Aquila, the epicentre of Monday's devastating quake.
Thousands of buildings are thought to have been damaged in L'Aquila and surrounding towns.
Italy lies on two fault lines and has been hit by powerful earthquakes in the past, mainly in the south of the country.
The last major quake to hit central Italy was a 5.5 magnitude tremor that hit the central-southern Molise region on 31 October, 2003, killing 28 people, 27 of whom were children whose school collapsed
An a 6.89 magnitude earthquake on 23 November 1980 in the southern Irpinia region killed 2,914 people, injured more than 10,000 and left 300,000 homeless.
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(Source: AKI)