In a telegram sent by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano to Spain’s Military Archbishop José Manuel Estepa Llaurens, the Pope also offered his sympathy to the families and loved ones of the 13 crew members of the plane.
“The Holy Father offers suffrages for the eternal repose of the deceased and raises his prayers so that the Lord will grant consolation and spiritual serenity to those who mourn the loss of their dear ones,” the papal message reads.
The Pope also asks Archbishop Estepa to “express his paternal solicitude and sentiments of closeness” to “the relatives of the victims.”
The accident happened near the Turkish base of Trabzon, on the Black Sea, about 470 miles northeast of the capital, Ankara. The plane, a Yakolev-42, belonging to NATO’s European agency NAMSA, tried to land in bad weather conditions, the Spanish Defense Ministry reported.
