Denver Newsroom, 06 May, 2023 / 9:35 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis has expressed his “spiritual closeness” to the people of God in Rwanda following the torrential rains that swept through the Northern, Western, and Southern Provinces of the country during the night of May 2-3, resulting in deadly floods.
In his telegram of condolences addressed to the Apostolic Nuncio in Rwanda, Archbishop Arnaldo Sanchez Catalan, the Holy Father invokes his “blessings of strength and peace” upon all those affected by the floods and landslides.
Pope Francis “has received with deep sadness the news of the loss of human life and destruction caused by the recent floods in the western and northern provinces of Rwanda," the telegram that was signed by the Secretary of State, Pietro Cardinal Parolin, reads in part.
The floods and landslides reportedly resulted in the death of dozens, Rwanda’s New Times newspaper having reported a revised death toll of 131 people on May 6, “as the search for the missing person continues”.
“This could be the highest disaster-induced death toll to be recorded in the country in the shortest period according to available records from recent years,” the government-backed New Times newspaper reported on May 3, when the death toll was “at least 109 people”.
