VATICAN CITY, JUL 18, 2007 (VIS) - Given below is the text of a telegram sent by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. to Archbishop Odilo Pedro Scherer of Sao Paolo, Brazil, for yesterday afternoon's air accident at the airport of Congonhas, which cost the lives of more than 200 people.
"The Holy Father, distressed by the hundreds of victims of the air disaster in Sao Paolo, which he visited not long ago, wishes to give his most heartfelt condolences to all their relatives. He gives assurances of his prayers for the dead and invokes the strength and consolation of God for the injured and for all those affected by this tragedy, granting everyone, as a sign of his spiritual closeness, his consoling apostolic blessing."
TGR/AIR ACCIDENT/SCHERER VIS 070718 (140)