Pope again reminds world of timely help for typhoon victims

November 12, 2013 - Pope Francis on Tuesday once more reminded the world of the need for quick action, both spiritual and material, to help hundreds of thousands of people brought to their knees by super-typhoon Haiyan, that tore through the central regions of the Philippines on Friday and made its way to Vietnam and other parts. “We remember the Philippines, Vietnam and the entire region hit but the Typhoon Haiyan. Please be generous with prayers and concrete help,” the Pope tweeted on his Twitter account @pontifex late Monday. This was the second tweet on the tragedy after Saturday’s in which he wrote, “I ask all of you to join me in prayer for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda especially those in the beloved islands of the Philippines.” On Sunday, at the weekly midday ‘Angelus’ prayer the Holy Father led a prayer and urged ‘concrete help’ for the Philippines. The Vatican’s Pontifical Council ‘Cor Unum’ that coordinates Catholic Charities worldwide sent an initial amount of $150,000 as “a first and immediate concrete expression” of the Holy Father’s encouragement and spiritual closeness to Filipinos. Various dioceses and Catholic charities around the world have been quick to respond to the Pope’s appeal. The monster storm has killed an estimated 10,000 people in Tacloban alone, and more than 9 million people have been affected across a large swath of the Philippines, many of them made homeless.