NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      SARNO, Italy (CWNews.com) - At least 48 people are dead and 70 more are missing after mudslides slammed through towns in southern Italy on Wednesday, leaving thousands homeless and scores of villages buried in mud.

      Rescuers, assisted by the army and volunteers, continued digging through debris in villages of the Campania region south of Naples. Many children are feared to be among the dead and missing. The mudslides hit Italy just months after three earthquakes hit central Italy, killing 11 people and leaving 1,000 homeless. Days of torrential rain swept mud and topsoil off mountains and hills in the areas affected and combined to create a fast-flowing wave of mud. The end of rain and a return to warmer weather on Thursday made rescue operations more difficult as the mud begins to harden.

      Pope John Paul II called the slides a shocking disaster and said he was praying for the injured, the dead, and the missing and their families. In a telegram to the head of the bishops' conference in Campania, the Holy Father said he "shared the pain of family and friends of the victims and those still missing in the mournful effects of this shocking disaster."