Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and survivors of the floods that struck Brazil in May 2024.
Since early May 2024, Brazil’s southernmost state has been ravaged by heavy rains and unprecedented flooding. The disaster has so far claimed over 100 lives, left more than 100 missing and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. People who have lost their homes are being helped in 105 temporary shelters in Porto Alegre, the state capital.
One of them is the Parish of Saint Martin (Páróquia São Martinho), founded in 1968 by László Molnár, a 93-year-old priest of Hungarian origin who fled to Brazil during the communist era (in 1956). Since the first day of the disaster, the institution has been home to many people whose homes were destroyed by the floods that devastated the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Therefore, the Permanent Council of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference has decided to support the Parish of Saint Martin with USD 14.035,88. The parish will be able to use the money to continue to help those in need with food, clothing, personal care products and all the necessary equipment.
Budapest, 30.05.2024
the General Secretariat of the HCBC
Photo: Vatican News