NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      ASSISI, Italy (CWNews.com) - Italian Catholics gathered at the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi on Sunday to mark the one-year anniversary of an earthquake that damaged the church and to memorialize the four victims who died when part of the ceiling collapsed.

      Archbishop Giovanni Battista Re celebrated a Mass for 1,500 people in the square outside the basilica. On September 26, 1997, earthquakes in central Italy killed 10 people and left thousands homeless, while also damaging historically significant buildings and artwork. "The truly difficult wounds to heal are those that the earthquake has left inside those who experienced it," the archbishop said.

      One of the quakes on that caused part of the 13th-century ceiling to collapse, killing two engineers, a friar, and a brother preparing to take his final vows.