Holy Father expresses closeness with Myanmar’s cyclone victims

(May 6, 2008) Pope Benedict has expressed his closeness with the families of the dead and those hit by the devastating cyclone that tore through the Irrawaddy delta of Myanmar on Saturday. “Deeply saddened by news of the tragic aftermath of the recent cyclone, the Holy Father expresses his heartfelt sympathy,” said a message sent on the Pope’s behalf on Tuesday by Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone to Archbishop Paul Zinghtung Grawng of Mandalay, Myanmar. “With prayers for the victims and their families, he invokes God’s peace upon the dead and divine strength and comfort upon the homeless and all who are suffering,” Cardinal Berton e wrote. The Pope hoped that “the international community will respond with generous and effective relief” to the needs of the affected, and asked Archbishop Grawng to “convey his solidarity and concern to the civil authorities and to all the beloved people of Myanmar.” Figures early Monday estimated some 30,000 people were missing, in addition to a death toll of 15,000, after Cyclone Nargis's 190 km per hour winds pounded through the Irrawaddy river delta of former Burma. These figures were likely to grow as the full scale of the disaster gradually unfolds.