Taiwan bishops thank Pope for US$50,000 Typhoon Danas relief donation

Taipei, July 30 (CNA) Bishops in Taiwan on Tuesday expressed their deep gratitude to Pope Leo XIV for supporting a US$50,000 donation in support of disaster relief efforts following Typhoon Danas, which hit southern Taiwan earlier this month.

The donation was made by the Dicastery for the Service of Charity and delivered to the Taiwanese side through the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See in Taipei, according to a Facebook post on Tuesday by the Chinese Regional Bishops' Conference (CRBC), the bishops' conference in Taiwan.

Also known as the Office of the Papal Almoner, the Dicastery for the Service of Charity is the Holy See's organization responsible for providing aid to the poor on behalf of the Pope, both in Italy and around the world.

CRBC President John Lee (李克勉) and the bishops of Chiayi and Tainan -- two regions in southern Taiwan hit hard by Typhoon Danas -- expressed their gratitude for the donation, the Facebook post read.

After the typhoon made landfall in Chiayi County on July 6 and caused widespread damage in the area, Pope Leo XIV was informed of the victims and damage caused by the typhoon in Taiwan and prayed for those affected, according to a July 16 report by Vatican News.

The pope also asked the Office of Papal Almonry to provide concrete help to the population, the report said, citing Matteo Bruni, the Director of the Holy See Press Office.

In a July 17 Facebook post sharing Bruni's remarks, the Republic of China (Taiwan's official name) Embassy to the Holy See noted that it was the first time the pope, who assumed the papacy in May, had expressed concern and sympathy for Taiwan over casualties and damage caused by a natural disaster.

At the time, Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) had instructed Taiwan's embassy in the Vatican to convey the government's and people's gratitude for the pope's kind gesture.

The Holy See is one of the Republic of China's (ROC) 12 diplomatic allies and the only one in Europe. Formal relations were established in 1942, when the ROC government was still based on the Chinese mainland.