(Vatican Radio) The magnitude 6.2 earthquake which struck central Italy on Wednesday morning left thousands of people homeless who are now in need of basic necessities such as food and a roof over their heads.The country’s Civil Protection Agency has set up camps with tents for those who lost everything and aid agencies have been providing food and counseling services to survivors.One of the agencies on the front line of relief efforts is Caritas Italy.Lydia O’Kane spoke to Caritas worker Antonina Ciabattoni who is in Ascoli Piceno, one of the dioceses worst hit by the earthquake.Listen: Relief effortsSpeaking about their relief efforts, she said, “we personally cannot go into the area where there was the earthquake. Now our volunteers are going and coming saying to us what they need. We provide for two days, when the camp was not ready we provided sandwiches, hot drinks, water, waiting for the other things that the people are sending.”Since the...
(Vatican Radio) The magnitude 6.2 earthquake which struck central Italy on Wednesday morning left thousands of people homeless who are now in need of basic necessities such as food and a roof over their heads.The country’s Civil Protection Agency has set up camps with tents for those who lost everything and aid agencies have been providing food and counseling services to survivors.
One of the agencies on the front line of relief efforts is Caritas Italy.
Lydia O’Kane spoke to Caritas worker Antonina Ciabattoni who is in Ascoli Piceno, one of the dioceses worst hit by the earthquake.
Listen:
Relief efforts
Speaking about their relief efforts, she said, “we personally cannot go into the area where there was the earthquake. Now our volunteers are going and coming saying to us what they need. We provide for two days, when the camp was not ready we provided sandwiches, hot drinks, water, waiting for the other things that the people are sending.”
Since the earthquake struck people from around Italy have been sending donations and Antonina said their generosity has been wonderful especially with regards to food and moral support.
Aftershocks
Speaking about the continuing aftershocks in the area, she said that people are very scared and are still feeling the ground moving. Antonina is based at Caritas’ welcome house for refugees in Ascoli and she said it was the first time they had experienced anything like this. “We slept in the garden”, she said.
Destruction
Wednesday’s quake caused major damage in the towns of Amatrice, Accumoli and Pescara del Tronto in the Ascoli diocese. But for Antonina, it’s not just buildings, it’s the suffering of the people that has affected her most. It is the look in their eyes, she said, “the people who lost everything, the people that lost family; it is something that can never be cancelled from my eyes and from my heart.”
The pro-life flag from the Pro-Life Flag Project (www.prolifeflag.com). / Credit: Pro-Life Flag Project (www.prolifeflag.com)Toronto, Canada, Apr 25, 2024 / 12:50 pm (CNA).The International Pro-Life Flag will not fly over Toronto Catholic schools this May.Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) trustees voted against an April 23 motion proposed by trustee Michael Del Grande that the pro-life flag fly outside all schools and the Catholic Education Centre during the month of May, just as the board voted to fly the Pride flag in June.Del Grande's motion was defeated at the April 23 board meeting when only Garry Tanuan supported Del Grande's motion. The eight other board members in attendance and the two student trustees opposed his proposal.Though Del Grande could not muster enough backing from his colleagues, his plan, which would have also directed all TCDSB schools to teach an exclusively pro-life curriculum on May 9, the day of the National March for Life, garnered bois...
null / ShutterstockCNA Staff, Apr 25, 2024 / 10:52 am (CNA).Following a recent Vatican declaration on human dignity, the Catholic bishops of England and Wales condemned medical and social transgenderism while encouraging a "sensitive" response in a pastoral reflection released on Wednesday.The Vatican's doctrinal office came down strongly against gender ideology, stating that "all attempts to obscure reference to the ineliminable sexual difference between man and woman are to be rejected."The Catholic bishops of England and Wales followed the Vatican's lead in their April 24 statement, "Intricately Woven by the Lord," which encouraged rooting pastoral care in "acceptance … of the body as created." "We cannot encourage or give support to reconstructive or drug-based medical intervention that harms the body," they wrote. "Nor can we legitimize or uphold a way of living that is not respectful of the truth and vocation of each man and each woman, called to ...
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