Vatican City, Apr 11, 2010 / 11:22 am
After the Regina Coeli prayer on Sunday, the Holy Father repeated his condolences to the "beloved Polish nation" for the deaths of President Lech Kaczynski and so many others in a plane crash on Saturday. The Pope assured the country of his prayers and entrusted the victims to the "merciful Lord of life."
"As we all know, yesterday saw the tragic airplane accident in Smolensk (Russia) in which the President of Poland, Mr. Lech Kaczynski, his wife, various high authorities of the Polish State and all of the delegation, including the Military Ordinary Archbishop perished," the Pope said.
"In expressing my profound condolences, I assure my heartfelt prayer of homage for the victims and of support for the beloved Polish nation," he added.
The Polish leader and delegation were on their way to the village of Katyn to commemorate, in a ceremony with Russian officials, the 70th anniversary of the assassination of more than 20,000 Polish military officers in World War II.