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Pope Francis sends $230,000 for Haiti earthquake victims

August 24, 2021 Catholic News Agency 1
Pope Francis gives his Wednesday general audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on Aug. 4, 2021. / Vatican Media.

Vatican City, Aug 24, 2021 / 05:20 am (CNA).

Pope Francis will send over $230,000 in aid for victims of the Haiti earthquake which struck Aug. 14.

The amount is “an initial contribution” to help the people of Haiti “in this emergency phase,” according to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development.

In an Aug. 24 press release, the dicastery said the money will be distributed to the Catholic dioceses most in need, with collaboration from the Vatican’s embassy in Haiti, the apostolic nunciature.

The funds “will be used to assist the earthquake victims and is intended to be an immediate expression of the feeling of spiritual closeness and paternal encouragement towards the people and territories affected, demonstrated by the Holy Father,” it said.

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck the island of Haiti on the night of Aug. 14. The death toll from the devastating quake had risen to over 2,200 people on Aug. 22, according to Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency.

More than 340 people are still missing and 12,268 are injured. The protection agency said nearly 53,000 homes were destroyed in what is the largest natural disaster to hit Haiti since the 2010 earthquake.

According to BBC News, people are sleeping outside in fear that aftershocks will tumble more buildings, and health experts in the country are bracing for a public health disaster.

“The sanitation situation is quite critical… it is our hope that we don’t have an outbreak of cholera,” Nadesha Mijoba of the Haitian Health Foundation told BBC News.

Pope Francis called for international solidarity to alleviate suffering in Haiti after his Angelus message on Aug. 15.

“I wish to express my closeness to those dear people who have been hard hit by the earthquake,” he said, asking people to offer a Hail Mary to Our Lady of Haiti.

“As I raise my prayers to the Lord for the victims, I address a word of encouragement to the survivors, desiring that the international community will take a shared interest in them. May the solidarity of all alleviate the consequences of the tragedy,” Pope Francis added.

The president of the Italian bishops’ conference has pledged to give $1.17 million to Haiti, to be distributed through the bishops’ charity office, Caritas Italiana.

Pope Francis is also sending emergency financial aid to Bangladesh and Vietnam, the human development office said Aug. 24.

He will send around $69,000 to Bangladesh, which is struggling after being hit by a severe cyclonic storm at the end of May. Cyclone Yaas caused strong winds and tidal surges which severely damaged the country’s coastal areas and fishing villages.

The Vatican said the pope will also donate around $117,000 to Vietnam, which is “in a state of grave need due to the socio-economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.”


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Pope Francis praises martyred Korean priest at Vatican Mass

August 21, 2021 Catholic News Agency 0
Pope Francis greets pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square after the Wednesday general audience, May 7, 2014. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.

Vatican City, Aug 21, 2021 / 11:35 am (CNA).

A Vatican Mass in the Korean language on Saturday marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of martyred priest St. Andrew Kim Taegon, whom Pope Francis praised as “an exemplary witness of heroic faith.”

In a message, Pope Francis called the saint a tireless apostle of evangelization, even “in difficult times, marked by persecution and suffering for your people.”

St. Andrew Kim Taegon was the first Korean-born Catholic priest. In 1846, at the age of 25, he was tortured and beheaded near Seoul, South Korea. He was canonized in 1984 with 102 other Korean martyrs.

Pope Francis’ words about the Korean saint were read aloud in St. Peter’s Basilica following Mass Aug. 21.

The pope said “even today, in the face of the many manifestations of evil that disfigure the beautiful face of man, created in the image and likeness of God, we need to rediscover the importance of the mission of every baptized person, who is called to be everywhere operator of peace and hope, willing, like the Good Samaritan, to bend over the wounds of those who are eager for love, help, or simply a fraternal gaze.”

“Good always prevails, because God’s love wins over hatred,” Pope Francis stated. He also expressed the hope that those working for reconciliation on the Korean peninsula “will continue with renewed commitment to be good peacemakers, encouraging everyone to a respectful and constructive dialogue for an ever brighter future.”

The Vatican Mass was celebrated by Korean Archbishop Lazarus You Heung-sik, the new prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, and attended by around 30 priests and 70 lay people.

In his homily, Archbishop You recalled the life of St. Andrew Kim, noting that he and other Korean Catholics “practiced what they believed, even if they lived in a society dominated by a hierarchical social system, and did their best to live the Gospel ideals of human dignity and equality among peoples.”

Calling attention to the ongoing suffering caused by COVID-19, You said it seemed “providential” that the 200th anniversary of Kim’s birth “is celebrated right in the middle of the pandemic.”

The coronavirus pandemic “unfortunately seems to have accentuated our tendency to selfishness and discrimination within society,” he said, pointing out that the example of the martyr St. Andrew Kim “might teach us the path with which we can deal with the current crisis.”

The archbishop also expressed the hope that a pope might someday be able to visit North Korea.


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