Pope
Francis
asked this Sunday to pray "for
the dead and injured in the devastating fires in Chile
", after the Sunday Angelus in St. Peter's Square.
Leaning out of the window of the apostolic palace to pray the Angelus, the Supreme Pontiff did not forget the situation in the central region of Valparaíso, where the flames advance without respite, and
more than 50 people have already died
.
There, he asked the faithful to pray for the wounded and dead.
At this time, Chile is fighting the deadliest wave of fires in its recent history and its largest emergency since the 2010 earthquake. The uncontrolled fire largely affected the Valparaíso region, 100 kilometers east of Santiago and the President Gabriel Boric decreed a state of emergency to facilitate the work.
Dramatic images of the fires in Chile: dozens of deaths and state of emergency
https://t.co/TjC8ML6zfA pic.twitter.com/3egMOY7BLV
— Clarín Photographs (@ClarinFotos) February 4, 2024
In the latest official report, Chilean authorities reported that the fires devastated
more than 43,000 hectares
and warned that the death toll could be "much higher" as the hours went by.
The mayor of Viña del Mar, one of the cities most affected by the fire, said minutes before that the municipality manages a provisional registry of
372 missing people
, which does not imply that all of them are dead but does give an idea of the magnitude of the tragedy.
Meanwhile, during his Sunday message, the Pope also called to remember the world day of prayer against
human trafficking
that will be celebrated next Thursday.
"Today so many brothers and sisters are deceived with false promises and then subjected to abuse and exploitation," denounced Jorge Bergoglio.
"Let us all unite to fight against the dramatic global phenomenon of human trafficking," he called.
With information from Agencies