Pope prays for victims of Violence and Earthquake

May 21, 2012: Referring to the recent tragic events in Italy, Pope Benedict XVI at the Sunday’s Regina Coeli said "Here today, unfortunately I have to remember the girls and boys of the school of Brindisi, was yesterday involved in a cowardly attack. Let us pray together for the wounded, including some serious, especially for young Melissa, innocent victim of brutal violence and for her family, who are in pain."

It may be recalled that a bomb went off near the court in Brindisi on Saturday morning, near the Morvillo Falcone school. Melissa Bassi a sixteen year old girl was killed in the explosion, which injured another seven youngsters. The blast was caused by two rudimentary bombs made from gas canisters, left on a wall next to the school. The powerful blast broke windows in both the school and several nearby buildings.

He also prayed for the "care" of the people of Finale Emilia, North of Bologna in Northern Italy, who are affected by the earthquake on Saturday night. "I am spiritually close to those who are suffering from this calamity: we implore God's mercy for those who are dead and in misery for the wounded."

The CNN reported thousands of survivors huddled in tents or in their cars under rainy skies till early Monday following a weekend earthquake that killed seven people across northern Italy. Aftershocks rattled the country's industrial heartland throughout Sunday evening following the magnitude-6.0 quake that struck around 4 a.m. The head of Italy's Civil Protection Department, Franco Gabrielli, said 11,000 people had been displaced after the quake, with the government putting 3,000 of them up in tents or hotels.