Papal envoy Cardinal Paul Cordes arrived in Kaohsiung yesterday, where he prayed for the victims of Typhoon Marakot.
Cardinal Cordes, who is president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, which coordinates Catholic charities, attended a mass at a Catholic church in Kaohsiung City, where he conveyed Pope Benedict XVI’s concern for survivors of one of the deadliest storms in Taiwan in half a century.
Cordes said in his prayers at the church that in several masses said over the past month, the pope had prayed for Taiwan and those who suffered in the devastation.
PHOTO: CNA
“The pope is with you and offers his condolences to those who lost their loved ones,” Cordes said.
HEAVEN
He consoled survivors by saying that although their relatives and loved ones were gone, they were now in heaven.
After the mass, the cardinal, accompanied by Monsignor Paul Russell, the Holy See’s new charge d’affaires in Taiwan, headed to the Republic of China Military Academy to console people displaced by floodwaters and mudslides triggered by the typhoon who are temporarily sheltering at the academy.
Liu Chen-chung (劉振忠), bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kaohsiung, said the cardinal donated US$25,000 on behalf of the pope as a gesture of sympathy for the victims.
raising money
Ma Yi-nan (馬以南), elder sister of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who also accompanied the cardinal during his trip, said she personally raised more than NT$10 million (US$304,000) in the US for the victims.
Of the total, she said, NT$8 million was donated to the Catholic Archdiocese of Kaohsiung and the remaining NT$2 million was distributed to several other charitable organizations.
The German cardinal arrived in Taiwan on Friday for a nine-day visit, primarily to attend an international humanitarian assistance conference in Taipei and to provide spiritual guidance and comfort to the survivors of Morakot.
SPIRITUAL EXERCISE
Cordes is scheduled to preside over the Spiritual Exercise for the Leaders of the Church’s Charitable Organization in Asia 2009, scheduled to open today at Fu Jen Catholic University in Taipei.
The event, to be held in Taiwan for the first time, is not only bringing together four other cardinals and more than 60 archbishops from around the region, but is also expected to be attended by 450 people from 29 Asian countries who participate in charity activities.
On behalf of the Pope, the Holy See’s embassy in Taiwan has donated US$50,000 to help with disaster relief and reconstruction operations.
Cordes is a long-standing friend of Taiwan and he visited the nation in January 2000 to comfort survivors of the Sept. 21, 1999 earthquake, which killed nearly 2,500 people.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner