Pubblichiamo di seguito il telegramma di cordoglio che il Santo Padre Giovanni Paolo II ha inviato, tramite il Cardinale Angelo Sodano, Segretario di Stato, per le vittime del disastro aereo avvenuto la scorsa notte a Davao nelle Filippine:

THE MOST REVEREND FERNANDO R. CAPALLA

ARCHBISHOP OF DAVAO

DEEPLY SADDENED BY THE NEWS OF THE GREAT LOSS OF LIFE CAUSED BY THE AIRLINE ACCIDENT WHICH HAPPENED TODAY NEAR DAVAO, THE HOLY FATHER ASKS YOU TO CONVEY HIS CONDOLENCES TO THE FAMILIES OF THOSE WHO HAVE DIED. WITH HOPE IN THE RISEN LORD, HIS HOLINESS PRAYS FOR THE VICTIMS AND ASKS GOD TO GRANT COURAGE AND STRENGTH TO THOSE WHO ARE MOURNING THEIR LOVED ONES. ENTRUSTING EVERYONE AFFECTED BY THE TRAGEDY TO THE MATERNAL INTERCESSION OF MARY, COMFORTER OF THE AFFLICTED, HIS HOLINESS CORDIALLY IMPARTS HIS APOSTOLIC BLESSING AS A TOKEN OF HIS SPIRITUAL CLOSENESS AT THIS DIFFICULT TIME. I JOIN THE HOLY FATHER IN ASSURING YOU OF MY SYMPATHY AND PRAYERS.

CARDINAL ANGELO SODANO

SECRETARY OF STATE

[00869-02.01] [Original text:English]