Pope urges surviviors to keep up hope as L'Aquila buries dead.Pope Benedict says he shares anguish as Italy observes day of mourning for 287 killed in earthquake.
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Mourners at a mass funeral for 205 victims of Italy's worst earthquake in 30 years were today urged by the pope to have courage and retain hope in spite of the tragedy.
The message from Pope Benedict XVI was read by his secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, at the opening of the funeral in the mountain city of L'Aquila, which bore the brunt of Monday's 6.3-magnitude quake.
"This is the time to work together," the pope said in the message. "Only solidarity will allow us to overcome this painful trial."
The pontiff told survivors he felt "spiritually among" them and that he was sharing their anguish. He plans to visit the quake area in the coming weeks.
Italy is observing a national day of mourning for the 289 killed in the disaster.
The prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, was among the 10,000 mourners attending the outdoor ceremony. The funeral required special dispensation from the pope, because mass is not usually celebrated on Good Friday in the Catholic church.
The Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, presided over the funeral mass. An imam briefly took the stage to address the relatives of an unknown number of Muslim victims. He also offered encouragement to all the mourners, who quietly applauded when he finished speaking.
Dozens of wooden coffins, many of them covered by bouquets of flowers and photos of the dead, were laid out in four rows on the parade ground of a police academy in L'Aquila. There were also five small white caskets of the youngest victims placed on top of those of their parents. They held mementos of their short lives: a boy's toy motorcycle and a baby's powder blue T-shirt with a Tweetie Bird design.
Twenty children and teenagers were among the dead. The youngest victim would have turned 5 months on Easter Sunday.
Some of the victims had already been buried privately. Two more bodies were located in the rubble as officials prepared for the funeral.
Before the ceremony began, Berlusconi said: "We thank the people of Abruzzo for their seriousness, civility, dignity and composure. Today we pay homage to their dead, who are our dead."
Across Italy, flags were flown at half-mast and in Rome many shops and businesses displayed signs saying they would be closed during the funeral.
Relatives of the victims arrived from early in the morning for the funeral, which started at 11am (1000 BST), some kissing the coffins or sitting before them in silent prayer. Several small white caskets, containing the bodies of children, sat on top of their mothers' coffins.
Piero Faro, who came to pay his respects to family friend Paola Pugliesi, 65, who died with her son Giuseppe, 45, told Reuters: "There is a lot of sadness today, but also a lot of anger. Their building simply disintegrated. This should not have happened."
The central Italian region of Abruzzo was hit by further violent aftershocks through the night, which damaged buildings and scared the 30,000 people left homeless who are now sheltered in tent villages.
Rescue efforts are winding down as hopes of pulling more survivors from the rubble fade. "The search is almost over," Luca Spoletini, spokesman for the Civil Protection agency, told Reuters.
The funeral required a special dispensation from Pope Benedict, who plans to visit Abruzzo soon, because mass is not usually celebrated on Good Friday in the Catholic church. There will also be an Islamic funeral for six Muslim victims.
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~http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/10/italy-earthquake-mass-funeral
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~http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-eu-italy-earthquake,0,7230214.story
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~http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL854063120090408
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~http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Italy-Earthquake-Violent-Aftershocks-Ahead-Of-Mass-Funeral/Article/200904215259432?f=rss
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