Pope in Solidarity with Victims of Haiti School Tragedy

(09 Nov 08 - RV) Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his profound sorrow and spiritual solidarity with the families of those killed by the collapse of a children’s school in Haiti.

Over 90 people, mostly children, have been confirmed dead. A further 150 have been pulled alive from the rubble of school, but are suffering serious injuries.

Officials said 700 children were enrolled at the three-story La Promesse primary school, but it was not known how many were in the building when it caved in on Friday while class was in session.

Rescuers are working frantically at the school site on the outskirts of Port-of Prince, the Haitian capital, bringing in a crane to lift blocks of concrete, and dropping water and biscuits to those still trapped below.

President Rene Preval said the evangelical church school had been built with hardly any structural steel or cement to hold its concrete blocks together. The owner of the school and church, Protestant minister Fortin Augustin, has been arrested.

In a telegram addressed to the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, writes that « On learning of this latest tragedy to touch Haiti…., the Holy Father has charged me to express his prayerful solidarity. He asks the Lord to welcome all the children killed to the peace of his Realm and to comfort the injured ».