TELEGRAM FOR DEATH OF FORMER ITALIAN PRESIDENT SCALFARO

VATICAN CITY, 30 JAN 2012 (VIS) - Benedict XVI has sent a telegram of condolence to Marianna Scalfaro for the death of her father, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, former president of the Republic of Italy who died on 29 January at the age of 93. The Holy Father expresses his spiritual closeness during this time of grief, then continues:

  "I wish to offer my heartfelt condolences, and to give assurances of my sincere participation in your sorrow, which also affects the entire nation of Italy. It is with great affection and particular gratitude that I recall this Catholic statesman, scrupulous magistrate and faithful servant of the institutions who, in the public offices he held, always strove to promote the common good, and the perennial ethical and religious values of Christianity which characterise the historical and civil traditions of Italy. I raise fervent prayers for his soul, invoking divine goodness - by the intercession of the Virgin Mary for whom he had particular veneration - to grant him eternal peace, and I impart upon you and all his relatives the comfort of an apostolic blessing".
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