As efforts to recover the bodies
of migrants who drowned off Italy's southern coast continued, Pope
Francis again asked people to pray for the victims and he sent his
almoner to Lampedusa to pray over the 194 corpses recovered as of Oct. 6
and to visit the survivors.
During his midday Angelus address Oct. 6, Pope Francis asked the
thousands who joined him in St. Peter's Square for the Marian prayer to
join him for a moment of silence.
"We remember those who lost their lives in Lampedusa," the pope said.
"Let us all pray silently for these brothers and sisters of ours -- men,
women and children. Let our hearts cry for them."
The boat, reportedly carrying more than 500 migrants from northern
Africa, capsized Oct. 3 and sank near Lampedusa, Italy's southernmost
island.
After interviewing the 155 survivors in a migrant reception
center on the island, Italian officials said someone set a fire on the
boat to signal a problem; when too many of the passengers moved away
from the fire to one side of the boat, it capsized.
Rough seas caused some delays in the effort to recovery bodies. The
bodies of more than 100 men, women and children were believed to be
still trapped in the wreckage as of Oct. 7.
Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, the official Pope Francis appointed in
August to be his almoner and distribute charity, traveled to Lampedusa
as a sign of the pope's personal concern for the dead, the survivors and
the coast guard and humanitarian workers at the scene.
Pope Francis had visited the island in early July after seeing newspaper
headlines in June describing the drowning of immigrants at sea.
Lampedusa is only about 70 miles from Tunisia and often is the first
port of entry for migrants trying to reach Europe from Africa.
The
United Nations estimates that more than 20,000 migrants trying to reach
Europe have drowned in the Mediterranean in the past 25 years.