POPE Benedict XVI has donated US$50,000 to help the victims of the worst floods the State of Queensland has suffered in 50 years.
The flood, which has claimed at least 10 lives and affected over 200,000 people in up to 24 towns, is estimated to have already caused $5 billion in damages, devastating much of Australia’s coal, beef and agriculture industries.
The country’s military has been dropping supplies into towns and is on standby for evacuations.
“The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, having been informed of the recent flooding in north-eastern Australia, has wished to express his closeness to the victims and their families,” said the letter. “As a gesture of solidarity, His Holiness has instructed the Pontifical Council Cor Unum to allocate the sum of US$50,000 in response to the urgent needs of those affected by the natural disaster.
“The donation has been entrusted through the Diocese of Rockhampton to the St Vincent de Paul Statewide Appeal in view of its distribution across all the flood victims.”
At the epicentre of the floodwaters is the town of Theodore, surrounded by cotton and citrus crops, cattle farms, coal and gold mining operations. The town, including Sacred Heart Catholic Church, was submerged on Christmas Day.
Theodore parish priest Fr Noel Milner, pastor to the Valleys Region who travels 600km each Sunday to celebrate Mass in three towns, told Catholic Mission Australia: “We just have to sit it out, knowing that the clean-up will be a huge job and heartbreaking for those who have lost everything – home, furnishings and livelihood.”
International branches of the Pontifical Mission Societies from Ireland and Pakistan have also written to their Australian colleagues conveying their support and sympathy.
“I am overwhelmed by the news that the affected area is equivalent to Germany and France combined,” Catholic Mission Ireland’s director Fr Gary Howley wrote in an email to Catholic Mission Australia.
“It is difficult to comprehend the extent of such flooding, it is so enormous.”
Bishop Brian Heenan of Rockhampton has pledged that the Catholic Church will do all it can in the recovery process.