Papal envoy Cardinal Paul Cordes arrived in Kaohsiung yesterday, where he prayed for the victims of Typhoon Marakot.
Cardinal Cordes, who is president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, which coordinates Catholic charities, attended a mass at a Catholic church in Kaohsiung City, where he conveyed Pope Benedict XVI’s concern for survivors of one of the deadliest storms in Taiwan in half a century.
Cordes said in his prayers at the church that in several masses said over the past month, the pope had prayed for Taiwan and those who suffered in the devastation.
PHOTO: CNA
“The pope is with you and offers his condolences to those who lost their loved ones,” Cordes said.
HEAVEN
He consoled survivors by saying that although their relatives and loved ones were gone, they were now in heaven.
After the mass, the cardinal, accompanied by Monsignor Paul Russell, the Holy See’s new charge d’affaires in Taiwan, headed to the Republic of China Military Academy to console people displaced by floodwaters and mudslides triggered by the typhoon who are temporarily sheltering at the academy.
Liu Chen-chung (劉振忠), bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kaohsiung, said the cardinal donated US$25,000 on behalf of the pope as a gesture of sympathy for the victims.
raising money
Ma Yi-nan (馬以南), elder sister of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who also accompanied the cardinal during his trip, said she personally raised more than NT$10 million (US$304,000) in the US for the victims.
Of the total, she said, NT$8 million was donated to the Catholic Archdiocese of Kaohsiung and the remaining NT$2 million was distributed to several other charitable organizations.
The German cardinal arrived in Taiwan on Friday for a nine-day visit, primarily to attend an international humanitarian assistance conference in Taipei and to provide spiritual guidance and comfort to the survivors of Morakot.
SPIRITUAL EXERCISE
Cordes is scheduled to preside over the Spiritual Exercise for the Leaders of the Church’s Charitable Organization in Asia 2009, scheduled to open today at Fu Jen Catholic University in Taipei.
The event, to be held in Taiwan for the first time, is not only bringing together four other cardinals and more than 60 archbishops from around the region, but is also expected to be attended by 450 people from 29 Asian countries who participate in charity activities.
On behalf of the Pope, the Holy See’s embassy in Taiwan has donated US$50,000 to help with disaster relief and reconstruction operations.
Cordes is a long-standing friend of Taiwan and he visited the nation in January 2000 to comfort survivors of the Sept. 21, 1999 earthquake, which killed nearly 2,500 people.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS