Pope donates more money for Vietnam flood victims
VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul has
donated $100,000 of his charitable funds to help victims of
flooding in Vietnam, a Vatican news agency said on Tuesday.
Fides, the agency of the Vatican's missionary arm, said the
money would be distributed by bishops in the seven Vietnamese
provinces hit by the flooding, the worst in Vietnam this century.
The floods killed nearly 600 people and caused hundreds of
millions of dollars in damage.
The Vatican and Vietnam are still working on establishing
diplomatic relations that could lead to a possible visit by the
Pope to the communist country.
The lastest donation was on top of $37,000 the Pope gave for
the flood victims last September. Catholics from around the
world send money to the Pope for charitable use.
Relations between the Vatican and the Vietnamese government
have traditionally been strained although there have been
improvements recently.
About eight million of Vietnam's 79 million people are Roman
Catholic, the second biggest Catholic community in Southeast
Asia outside the Philippines.
Reuters - November 23, 1999.
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