BENEDICT XV. AND THE WAR PRISONERS

New Zealand Tablet, 12 September 1918, Page 23

BENEDICT XV. AND THE WAR PRISONERS

From the account which is given in the Osservatore Romans of the condition of Italian prisoners who have been sent by the Germans to work on railroads in the east, it is evident that there is need for the efforts of the committee which was formed the other day in London to collect information regarding the condition of prisoners in Turkey. The five hundred prisoners whom. Mgr. Dolci, the Papal Delegate, saw at the Malatepo Camp were at the end of their strength through want of food. Many of them had not even shirts, and those that had had not changed them for several months. The men had found it necessary to sell their clothes to buy bread. To their material privations was added moral suffering, for they were without friends or sympathy, and uncertain of their fate. In the name of the Holy Father, Mgr, Dolci generously came to their relief. He provided for them new clothes, soap, cigarettes, and other comforts, as well as a good meal; heard their confessions, said Mass for them, and gave them Holy Communion. The kindness of the Holy Father's representative has been greatly appreciated, but his resources are, it is needless to say, limited.