Quake-Weary Italy Holds Day of Mourning

l'AQUILA, Italy, April 10, 2009 — -- Italy held an emotional day of mourning today for the victims of Monday's earthquake, even as aftershocks continued to roll through the region.

On this day, also the holiday of Good Friday, traditionally the most mournful day in the Christian calendar, the nation had the added burden of contemplating the 289 people who were killed in the wake of Monday's powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake. Forty-thousand people remain homeless.

At the Financial Guard police barracks in Coppito, near the epicenter town of L'Aquila, 205 coffins were on display for the moving ceremony, laid out in four rows on red carpets in front of a specially-built altar.

Covered in floral wreaths, the simple-looking brown caskets were occasionally dotted with smaller white coffins placed above, indicating a child that had been killed along with a parent in the quake. The youngest victim at today's funeral was only six months old.

As relatives arrived to pay their respects, a silence slowly enveloped the barracks, occasionally broken by muted wails of the grief-stricken. Somber organ music and cannon-fire heralded the start of the ceremony which began with Pope Benedict's personal secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, reading aloud a personal message from the Pontiff himself.

"The violence of the earthquake, has created singularly difficult situations," Monsignor Gaenswein read out, "I followed the developments of the devastating seismic phenomenon from the first shock of the earthquake, which was also felt in the Vatican, and I noticed with favor the growing wave of solidarity, thanks to which the first rescue operations were organized, followed by an increasingly incisive action both by the state and the ecclesiastic institutions and private people."

"The Holy See intends to do its part, along with the parishes, the religious institutes and the lay groups. This is the time for commitment, in coordination with the State organizations, which are already working in an admirable way. Solidarity is the only thing that can help overcome such painful tests."