Pope prays for victims of Spanish fishing boat accident

By Linda Bordoni

Pope Francis has expressed his heartfelt condolences, as well as his solidarity, to all those affected by the tragic sinking of a Spanish fishing trawler, hundreds of kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

In a telegram sent on his behalf by Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and addressed to Archbishop Julián Barrio Barrio of Santiago de Compostela, the Pope said he is grieved to hear of the sad news of the shipwreck of the Villa de Pitanxo fishing boat, which occurred on 15 February and in which several people lost their lives.

Three survivors were rescued and nine bodies were recovered after the ship went down amid stormy conditions. The search for twelve missing crew members was called off on Wednesday, 36 hours after the boat had sunk.

The fifty-meter fishing boat from Marin, a port in the north-western Spanish region of Galicia, carried a 24-person crew made up of Spaniards, Peruvians and Ghanaians.

The Pope, the telegram reads, “raises to God his prayers for the eternal repose of the victims and expresses his closeness to the families who mourn their loved ones. He commends to the mercy of the Lord and to the maternal care of the Mother of God, all those affected by this accident.”

Pope Francis also imparted his apostolic blessing as “a pledge of the constant help of the Lord and as a sign of hope in the Resurrection.”