POPE PRAYS FOR HURRICANE VICTIMS AND FOR IRAQ

VATICAN CITY, SEP 4, 2005 (VIS) - After praying the Angelus at midday today at his summer residence at Castelgandolfo, the Pope gave assurances of his prayers for the victims of the hurricane that recently struck the U.S.A.: for the dead and their families, the injured, the homeless, the sick, children and the elderly.

  After blessing "those involved in the difficult work of rescue and rebuilding," he said that he had entrusted Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes, president of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum," to bring testimony of the Pope's solidarity to the people stricken by the disaster.

  The Holy Father concluded: "My thoughts also go to the Iraqi people who last Wednesday witnessed the deaths of hundreds of their fellow citizens - mostly elderly people, women and children - who had gathered in Baghdad for a religious ceremony, victims of an unstoppable moment of panic. May the Almighty touch everyone's hearts so that a climate of reconciliation and reciprocal trust may finally be instated in that troubled country."
ANG/HURRICANE U.S.A.:IRAQ/...                        VIS 20050905 (180)