Pope Benedict XVI celebrated a Holy Thursday Mass that included the traditional blessing of holy oils, some of which the church will send to the earthquake zone as a sign of closeness to the stricken population. At Thursday's Mass of Chrism the Pope blessed the oils and said he was sending them to the Archbishop of L'Aquila as a "sign of my profound communion and spiritual closeness."
The Pope noted that he hoped these holy oils would help in "healing the wounds and giving hope" to the victims of the country's worst earthquake in three decades, that killed 275 people.
The magnitude-6.3 quake hit L'Aquila and several towns covering 230 square miles in central Italy early Monday, leveling buildings and reducing entire blocks to piles of rubble.
It was the worst quake to hit Italy in three decades.
The Vatican said Pope Benedict would visit the affected area sometime after Easter Sunday and that he did not want to interfere with relief operations.
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(Source: NECN)