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AMATRICE, Italy (AP) -- Rescue crews using bulldozers and their bare hands raced to dig out survivors from a strong earthquake that reduced three central Italian towns to rubble Wednesday. The death toll stood at 120, but the number of dead and missing was uncertain given the huge number of vacationers in the area for summer's final days....
The first hospital of the Diocese of Miao, in North East India, to be inaugurated on Sept 8 will be dedicated to Bl. Mother Theresa of Kolkata.As the world is preparing for the Canonization of Bl. Mother Theresa of Kolkata, the Diocese of Miao, situated in the extreme north eastern corner of India, has planned to dedicate its first hospital to Bl. Mother Theresa of Kolkata. The hospital will be inaugurated on September 8, 2016 at Injan, Changlang District. “Mother Theresa and Mercy go hand in hand. We are very proud to say that the only place Mother Theresa visited in our Diocese was Borduria village in Tirap District of Arunachal Pradesh on August 2, 1993”, says Bishop George Pallipparambil SDB of Miao Diocese. The Diocese of Miao is so blessed to join the celebration of the Canonization Bl. Mother Theresa by honouring her with this first hospital of the Diocese.To mark this honour, a special statue of St. Mother Theresa of Kolkata will be...
The first hospital of the Diocese of Miao, in North East India, to be inaugurated on Sept 8 will be dedicated to Bl. Mother Theresa of Kolkata.
As the world is preparing for the Canonization of Bl. Mother Theresa of Kolkata, the Diocese of Miao, situated in the extreme north eastern corner of India, has planned to dedicate its first hospital to Bl. Mother Theresa of Kolkata. The hospital will be inaugurated on September 8, 2016 at Injan, Changlang District.
“Mother Theresa and Mercy go hand in hand. We are very proud to say that the only place Mother Theresa visited in our Diocese was Borduria village in Tirap District of Arunachal Pradesh on August 2, 1993”, says Bishop George Pallipparambil SDB of Miao Diocese. The Diocese of Miao is so blessed to join the celebration of the Canonization Bl. Mother Theresa by honouring her with this first hospital of the Diocese.
To mark this honour, a special statue of St. Mother Theresa of Kolkata will be installed at the entrance to the hospital. “Mother Theresa being the embodiment of Mercy, we would like to honour her with this hospital”, said Bishop George.
Explaining the reason why he started this hospital, Bishop George says that the Tribals living in the remote Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh will not have to travel over a 100 km into neighbouring Assam for treatment as this medical facility will be a huge blessing for the people around Miao.The two-storeyed hospital at Injan village will have around 25 beds to begin with.
"There is a lot of public demand for a hospital in the area as the nearest hospital is 120 km away in Assam's Tinsukia. No other medical facility is functional nearby," Bishop George said getting ready for the blessing of the hospital on 8 September, 2016.
The hospital will have very basic facility for treatment of diseases like TB, malaria and jaundice which are common in this part of the north-eastern state.
"People die there not due to some complicated health conditions but because of very ordinary diseases which are curable. Due to geographical distance, no medical attention is available to patients when they need it," the Bishop said.
IMAGE: CNS photo/Remo Casilli, ReutersBy Cindy WoodenVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Hearing the mayor of Amatrice incentral Italy say his town no longer exists and knowing there were children whodied Aug. 24 in the earthquakes that struck the region, Pope Francis turned hisweekly general audience into a prayer service.Beginning the audience in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francissaid he had prepared a normal audience talk on how the merciful Jesus is closeto people, but given the devastation in central Italy, he decided to lead therecitation of the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary.Later in the day, the Vatican press office said that as aconcrete sign of Pope Francis' concern for the earthquake victims, six Vaticanfirefighters had been sent to Amatrice. They will work under the direction ofthe Italian government emergency services in searching for victims and offeringthem assistance.Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanologyreported the first quake, which registered a magnitude 6....
IMAGE: CNS photo/Remo Casilli, Reuters
By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Hearing the mayor of Amatrice in central Italy say his town no longer exists and knowing there were children who died Aug. 24 in the earthquakes that struck the region, Pope Francis turned his weekly general audience into a prayer service.
Beginning the audience in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis said he had prepared a normal audience talk on how the merciful Jesus is close to people, but given the devastation in central Italy, he decided to lead the recitation of the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary.
Later in the day, the Vatican press office said that as a concrete sign of Pope Francis' concern for the earthquake victims, six Vatican firefighters had been sent to Amatrice. They will work under the direction of the Italian government emergency services in searching for victims and offering them assistance.
Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology reported the first quake, which registered a magnitude 6.0, struck at 3:36 a.m. with an epicenter about 100 miles northeast of Rome between the towns of Accumoli and Amatrice. The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude was 6.2 and the epicenter was closer to Norcia, the birthplace of St. Benedict.
Smaller quakes -- at least two of which registered more than 5.0 -- continued for several hours after the main quake. By early afternoon, the death toll had reached 38 but was expected to rise.
As emergency workers began digging people out from under the rubble of collapsed buildings and the number of verified deaths climbed, Pope Francis arrived in St. Peter's Square for his general audience.
"Hearing the news of the earthquake that has struck central Italy and devastated entire areas, leaving many dead and wounded, I cannot fail to express my heartfelt sorrow and my closeness" to everyone in the earthquake zone, especially those who lost loved ones and "those who are still shaken by fear and terror," the pope said.
"Having heard the mayor of Amatrice say, 'The town no longer exists,' and knowing that there are children among the dead, I am deeply saddened," Pope Francis said.
The pope thanked all the volunteers and emergency workers who were trying to rescue victims people trapped under the rubble.
Assuring the people in the region of the prayers and "the embrace of the whole church," the pope asked the estimated 11,000 pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter's Square to join him in praying that "the Lord Jesus, who is always moved by human suffering, would console the brokenhearted and give them peace."
At the Benedictine monastery in Norcia, a community growing in fame because of its prayer life and brewery, the 15 monks and five guests were already awake when the first quake hit, Benedictine Father Benedict Nivakoff told Catholic News Service. Aug. 24 is the feast of St. Bartholomew and "on feast days we get up earlier" to pray, he said.
"All of the monks and the monks' guests are safe," he said. But the Basilica of St. Benedict suffered "considerable structural damage," and the monastery will need repairs as well.
Within a half hour of the first quake, Father Nivakoff said, the square outside the monastery was filled with people "because it is the safest place in town -- around the statue of St. Benedict."
While no buildings collapsed, it is obvious that many homes are no longer habitable, he said. The monks have set up a reception desk to help meet their neighbors' needs.
The basilica, he said, is closed pending an inspection by civil engineers, who were to arrive the afternoon of Aug. 24. However, Father Nivakoff said, "the facade seems to have detached" from the rest of the building and major repairs are likely.
Assisi is just 45 miles from Norcia and, according to Franciscan Father Enzo Fortunato, the quake was felt strongly at the convent and basilica that suffered major damage from an earthquake in 1997.
Father Fortunato told the Italian news agency ANSA that the quake woke all the friars, many of whom ran to the Basilica of St. Francis. No damage was visible, he said.
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