Pope Benedict XVI offered special
prayers and a $1.2 million contribution to Haiti as the country
struggled to recover a year after a deadly earthquake.
The pope, speaking at his noon blessing at the Vatican Jan. 9, announced
that he was sending a top Vatican official to Haiti to express his
"continual closeness and that of the entire church" to the people of the
Caribbean nation.
"At this moment of Marian prayer, I wish to reserve a particular thought
for the people of Haiti, one year after the terrible earthquake, which
has unfortunately been followed by a serious cholera epidemic," the pope
said.
More than 1 million Haitians continue to live in hundreds of temporary
settlements that sprouted after the magnitude 7 earthquake struck on
Jan. 12, 2010.
At least 230,000 people were killed. Cholera has claimed
more than 3,600 lives over the past three months.
The pope said Cardinal Robert Sarah, head of the Pontifical Council Cor
Unum, will travel to the Caribbean nation as it marks the anniversary of
the earthquake. The pontifical council coordinates international
Catholic charitable activities.
Cardinal Sarah was bringing funds collected by the Vatican for Haiti's
recovery: $800,000 for reconstruction of schools and $400,000 for
reconstruction of churches.
The Vatican said Cardinal Sarah would read a papal message during a Mass
Jan. 12. The cardinal was scheduled to meet with Haitian President Rene
Preval Jan. 11 and celebrate Mass in the Terrain Acra settlement camp
in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.
Cardinal Sarah was also visiting with members of three religious orders
that ran a hospital, a home for the elderly, a center for AIDS and
tuberculosis patients and a school. All were damaged or destroyed in the
earthquake. He was also to lay the foundation stone for a new
church-run school.
Before leaving Haiti, Cardinal Sarah was to celebrate Mass Jan. 13 at
the convent of the Daughters of Mary, where 15 sisters died in the
collapse of a convent building.
In Rome, meanwhile, the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio
Bertone, was scheduled to celebrate a commemorative Mass Jan. 12 in the
Basilica of St. Mary Major. The diplomatic corps at the Vatican and in
Rome were invited to attend.
SIC: CNS/INT'L