Vatican City, April 27 (CNA) Taiwan on Monday donated three rice cookers and canned food products to the Holy See in response to Pope Francis' call to help those in Vatican City affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a ceremony, Taiwan's ambassador to the Vatican Matthew Lee (李世明) donated 1,440 cans of tuna and another 1,440 cans of pineapple to Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, currently the Apostolic Almoner, or papal almsgiver, in charge of the Office of Papal Charities.
Among the rice cookers, one of them was a commercial use rice cooker that can steam rice to feed around 60 people at a time to the Office of Papal Charities.
It will be used to prepare food for those in need in Vatican City, and to make sure the cooks at the charities know how to use the appliance, the embassy has prepared Italian-language instructions.
The two smaller rice cookers were sent to Pope Francis so that his cook can use them to steam rice the country previously donated to the Holy See. Two boxes of pineapple cakes were also sent to the Pope and to Krajewski as gifts.
The cardinal thanked Taiwan for its donations to the Holy See, praising Taiwan as the country that has most actively responded to the Pope's call for humanitarian assistance to those in need amid the pandemic.
The latest donations were made after Taiwan had previously given the Holy See 480,000 face masks to help it fight the coronavirus.
(By Huang Ya-shih and Joseph Yeh)
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