Pope Benedict’s gestures for Italy’s quake-hit people
(April 9, 2009) As a sign of his personal closeness with the quake affected people
of Italy’s Abruzzo region, Pope Benedict XVI has delegated Vatican Secretary of State
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone to preside over the funeral Mass for the dead on Good Friday
morning in L’Aquila. The Catholic Church’s liturgical norms do no allow any other
celebration on Good Friday except for the Mass of the Passion of Our Lord. But the
Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has
granted a special dispensation this time to substitute the Good Friday liturgy with
a funeral Mass. The Pope’s gesture was in response to a request by civil and religious
authorities. Pope Benedict is also sending his personal secretary Msgr. Georg Gänswein
with Cardinal Bertone to Good Friday’s funeral Mass in L’Aquila. The 6.3 magnitude
quake that struck Abruzzo on Monday has claimed at least 279 lives. Authorities say
28,000 people lost their homes in the earthquake, with 17,000 now living in tents
and the rest in free hotel rooms or staying with family. As another sign of his
nearness to the people of Abruzzo and L’Aquila, Pope Benedict is sending to Archbishop
Giuseppe Molinari of Aquila part of the holy oils he blessed at the Chrism Mass Holy
Thursday morning in St. Peter’s Basilica. “To our dear brother Archbishop Molinari,
who because of serious damage caused by the earthquake is unable to gather his faithful,
I wish to send these holy oils as a sign of my profound communion and spiritual nearness,”
Pope Benedict said at the end of the Chrism Mass. The announcement was greeted with
a hearty applause by the priests, cardinals and bishops present in St. Peter’s Basilica.
The oils, the Holy Father explained, are a sign that highlight the mystery of the
Church as a sacrament, that sanctifies every human reality and situation of life.
“May these holy oils accompany the period of rebirth and reconstruction, healing the
wounds and sustaining hope and may the people, places and things marked by them be
able shine with the holiness of God,” the Pope added. Speaking earlier on Wednesday
at the end of his weekly general audience, Pope Benedict promised the quake-hit people
of L’Aquila and Abruzzo that he would pay them a visit. Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico
Lombardi said that the visit "will be in a short time, but not imminent; a date has
yet to be fixed." "The fact that the Holy Father wishes to go to the people affected
by the earthquake does not mean that he is going to leave before Easter," he said.
Archbishop Molinari of L'Aquila described the Pope’s visit as "a comforting presence
and a great gift" and said he received the news with "gratitude" and "emotion." "The
Pope's visit gives us hope and strength to face the present situation, which is so
difficult, and the future, which is so uncertain. We are moved and grateful to the
Holy Father for his visit. His presence is truly comforting," Archbishop Molinari
added.