Pretty much the saddest thing I've ever heard...

I was driving home for lunch today and heard a news report on NPR about the funeral mass held for the Italian earthquake victims today. I didn't realize that it's incredibly unusual for the Pope to allow a mass to be held on Good Friday, but Italy has declared a national day of mourning and they held the mass outside because the churches had been so badly damaged in the earthquake. I started thinking about some of the small towns I had visited in Italy and realized that 200+ deaths in most towns is a significant loss, to where everyone knew a great many of the victims. I hadn't thought much about the earthquake until today (I don't have cable and I've been working non-stop since before it happened) but I heard this on the radio and I wanted to about bawl my eyes out:

The coffins of four young sisters from the Germinelli family lay side by side, bearing their names and dates of birth: Rosa 1992, Michaela 1995, Chiara 1998, Giuseppina 2002. Each had a large bunch of white lilies wrapped in cellophane with a ribbon reading “From Papa.”

Hug the kiddos today, y'all.