A subdued crowd of several hundred residents and rescue workers gathered in the main plaza of Pisco, Peru, to pray with a top Vatican official who had come to remember victims of the mid-August earthquake.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, conveyed "greetings, solidarity and blessings" from Pope Benedict XVI to worshippers in Pisco, as well as a crowd of more than 5,000 people at an earlier prayer service Aug. 24 in Ica, about 42 miles south of Pisco.

The mood was more subdued in Pisco, the city closest to the epicenter of the quake, than it was in Ica. More than 300 of the more than 500 quake victims died in Pisco --- at least 100 of them when the roof of St. Clement Church collapsed during a memorial Mass for a parishioner who had died a month earlier.

The cardinal urged residents not to give up hope and to remember that God is present even in the midst of tragedy. After the service, Cardinal Bertone waded through the thick adobe dust on the site of the church and led prayers for those who had died and for their families.

---CNS

Support Peruvian relief efforts As of Aug. 28 parishes and individuals of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles have contributed $77,201.82 to assist Catholic Relief Services in its critical relief work in Peru. To make a contribution, make checks payable to CRS/ADLA-Peru Relief Funds and mail to: Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Office of Justice and Peace, 3424 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010.