Pope says top Vatican official to deliver check for Peru quake relief

Published: 2007-08-20

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) -- Offering prayers for the victims of the Aug. 15 earthquake in Peru and calling again for international assistance for survivors, Pope Benedict XVI announced that his secretary of state personally would deliver a papal donation to relief efforts. "Our thoughts and prayers constantly have been turned to the people of Peru, struck by a devastating earthquake," the pope told visitors gathered at his summer villa Aug. 19 for the midday recitation of the Angelus. "For the numerous dead, I invoke the peace of the Lord; for the injured, a speedy recovery; and I assure those living in extreme conditions that the church is with you with all its spiritual and material solidarity," the pope said. He said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, who had a visit to Peru scheduled before the earthquake struck, would expand his late-August trip to show the pope's concern for the victims. The Vatican said Aug. 20 that the cardinal would deliver a papal check for $200,000 "for the urgent needs of the people" suffering the consequences of the disaster. The Vatican did not provide the precise dates or itinerary of the cardinal's trip.

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