Italy cries as quake victims buried
L'AQUILA, Italy: Sobbing mourners gazed on coffins adorned with mementos of the dead - a boy's toy motorcycle, a baby's blue T-shirt - comforting each other as they said farewell at a funeral mass for Italy's quake victims.
In a message delivered at the Good Friday Mass, Pope Benedict XVI urged survivors of the devastating quake, Italy's worst in three decades, to keep up hope.
The 6.3-magnitude temblor - which killed 289 and left some 30,000 homeless - struck on Monday at the start of Holy Week, heightening the sense of suffering in this deeply Roman Catholic country.
"This is the time to work together," the pope said in a message read by his secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein. "Only solidarity will allow us to overcome this painful trial."
Weeping mourners in the front row bowed their heads, their shoulders moving up and down as they sobbed. A few traced their fingers on the caskets neatly lined up on the vast military ground in the quake-stricken city of L'Aquila. Others stared out blankly at the sea of flowers.
Firefighters and other rescue workers stood solemnly, their hands clasped in front of them. Paramedics responded when one mourner collapsed.
Amid the rows of coffins, five small white caskets of the youngest victims rested on those of their parents. They held mementos of their short lives: a boy's toy motorcycle and a baby's powder blue T-shirt with a Tweetie Bird design.
Twenty children and teenagers were among the dead. The youngest victim would have turned 5 months on Easter Sunday.
The Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, presided over the Good Friday funeral Mass for about 200 of the dead. Some of the 289 victims had already been buried privately. Two bodies were located in the rubble as officials prepared for the funeral.
An imam briefly took the stage to address the relatives of an unknown number of Muslim victims. He also offered encouragement to all the mourners, who quietly applauded when he finished speaking.
Premier Silvio Berlusconi and other key government officials were among the 10,000 people attending the outdoor ceremony beneath Abruzzo's snowcapped mountains. The funeral was being held outdoors because none of the region's churches was stable enough for the ceremony.
Friday was declared a national day of mourning and many shops across the country were closed during the funeral service.
AP
(China Daily 04/11/2009 page11)
