Agence France Presse

Gunung Sitoli, April 3:

As the ground shook with the fury of new aftershocks, Catholics on the earthquake-hit Indonesian island gathered in the open air today to grieve for Pope John Paul II and

their own dead.

Before prayers began in the St Mary Catholic church in the ravaged port of Gunung Sitoli, a jolt measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale sent the 90-strong congregation running outside for safety. After dashing back into the building to fetch the altar, large wooden crucifixes and candles, they continued the service under scorching sun in the churchyard, next to the toppled bell tower.

Church services on the predominantly Protestant island off the coast of Sumatra were today held for the first time since a massive 8.7 earthquake last week killed hundreds of people.

Leading the congregation, Father Mikael To said the death of the Pope had caused sadness among the island’s Catholics, but many were too lost in their own grief to remember the pontiff in their prayers.

“Another loss has been added to our own because we have lost our leader, his holiness, the Pope. “Perhaps some of us are not too saddened by his death because our homes are destroyed, our brothers and sisters have died,” he said.

“But there are some of us who are saddened because we have lost our leader.”