Funeral Mass for earthquake victims

[JohnCenaFan28]

Thousands of people have attended a state funeral for 205 people who died in the Abruzzo earthquake, as Italy held a day of mourning.

Mourners near the devastated city of L'Aquila sobbed over neat rows of coffins, some with tiny children's caskets resting on top.

Italians joined in a collective outpouring of grief as victims of Italy's most devastating earthquake in a generation were remembered at the open-air funeral Mass.

Pope Benedict XVI sent a message urging survivors not to give up hope, while Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi captured the pathos which swept the country, wondering aloud: "How can one not be moved by so much pain?"

The 6.3-magnitude quake - which killed 289 and left nearly 40,000 homeless - struck on Monday at the start of Holy Week, heightening the sense of suffering in the deeply Roman Catholic country.

Twenty children and teenagers were among the dead. The youngest victim would have been five months old on Easter Sunday.

Many who gathered at the special Mass on a military ground in the medieval town of L'Aquila were on crutches or had bruises, bandages and other signs of injury. Some wore jogging bottoms or tracksuits - the only clothing they had managed to find since fleeing their homes.

Firefighters, rangers and other rescue workers stood solemnly, their hands clasped in front of them. At least 10 mourners fainted during the ceremony, according to a doctor at the scene.

In a message read by his secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, the Pope told people in the quake-stricken central Abruzzo region that "this is the time to work together".

"Only solidarity will allow us to overcome this painful trial," he said Benedict, noting that the quake was felt at the Vatican, 60 miles (100km) to the south-west.

-Nova

[John]

thanks for the news, EeL.