VATICAN CITY (Zenit/CNS): Pope John Paul has called on all Italian citizens to help the town of San Giuliano di Puglia rebuild in the wake of an October 31 earthquake that killed 29 people, including 26 children.
As Catholics around the world remembered their deceased loved ones, the Pope offered special prayers for the earthquake victims in the southern Italian town.
On the November 1-2 feasts of All Saints and All Souls, as well as during his Angelus address on November 3, the Pope offered his condolences to the parents of the 26 children who died when the nursery and elementary school in San Giuliano di Puglia collapsed.
He also encouraged people to pray for all the victims of violence around the world and for the deceased who have no loved ones to pray for them.
In a message read at the funeral Mass for the 26 children, a teacher and two elderly women who lived near the school, the Pope said he entrusted “into the hands of the heavenly Father the young lives which have left us”, and he asked God to comfort those who were mourning.
