Nuncio tours Indonesia's Aceh province, compares it to Armageddon

Published: 2005-01-07

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNS) -- The Vatican's nuncio to Indonesia, who toured the tsunami-hit Aceh province, compared the damage to Armageddon. "For me, it is like Armageddon," Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don told UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. The archbishop visited Aceh Jan. 1 and 2, and one of the first things he did in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, was celebrate Mass for about 25 Catholics living in a refugee camp. The archbishop said the Mass was very emotional as most of the survivors had lost a family member in the Dec. 26 disaster. "I could see their faith was stronger. They cried but prayed. When they were singing, I could see the pain leaving their eyes," the archbishop told UCA News.

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