Prayers for Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic

“Deeply saddened” by the “lamentable loss of human lives, as well as numerous casualties and material damage” caused by Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, Pope Francis expressed his closeness to both countries in two telegrams signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, on Wednesday, 21 September. One was addressed to Archbishop Freddy Antonio de Jesús Bretón Martínez of Santiago de Los Caballeros, president of the Bishops’ Conference of the Dominican Republic, and the other to Bishop Rubén Antonio González Medina, C.M.F., of Ponce, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Puerto Rico. The Pope, read the telegrams, “raises his fervent prayer to the most merciful Father, asking him to grant his consolation” to all those affected, and he “asks the entire Christian community and people of good will to increase their solidarity to help those afflicted by this calamity, and thus manifest the fraternal closeness to which we are called”.