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.
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