Prayers as Etna lava slows

A plume of molten lava erupts from Etna

MOUNT ETNA, Sicily -- People living on the slopes of Mount Etna have sought solace in their faith as lava flows continue to edge close to centres of population.

In Nicolosi, worshippers on Sunday crowded into the church of Santa Maria della Grazia for Mass and laid flowers at the shrine of the St. Anthony's their town's patron saint.

Parishoners believe St. Anthony protects them from the volcano and his shrine -- a statue of the saint perched on a lava rock -- lies at the point where the lava stopped during an 1856 eruption.

VIDEO Sicily's Mount Etna continues to erupt, and those living nearby are growing anxious, as CNN's Matthew Chance explains (July 28) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   AUDIO CNN's Matthew Chance: Emergency teams racing against time 1010K / 93 sec. AIFF or WAV sound   MORE STORIES Living in the shadow of a volcano     RESOURCES Anatomy of a volcano (Flash animation)   Picture gallery: Mount Etna   On the Scene: Mount Etna provides 'awesome, dramatic display'

"Local people still believe in miracles," teacher Gianbattista Martinazoli told the Associated Press as he left Mass.

"If human technology can't keep the lava back, the Eternal Father is our only salvation."

Nicolosi's priest, the Rev. Bartolomeo Ruggieri, said the danger of living on the slopes of a live volcano, Europe's largest, makes his parishioners strong.

"Being in danger's path makes them wiser," he said.

"It makes them reflect on the human condition, about mortality, about the fact they can exist -- and then not exist."

At another Mass at the foot of the mountain on Sunday evening, Catania Archbishop Luigi Bommarito blessed Etna and invoked God's mercy, asking that the eruption be ended.

"The warmer our prayers, the colder the lava," he told the crowd gathered at a shrine built in honor a vision of the Virgin Mary.

Although none of the towns on Etna's slopes have been damaged, there have been losses in agriculture and tourism and the government has earmarked about 18 billion lire (dlrs 8 million) to help the area recover.

Earlier on Sunday, geologists said the lava flows from Mount Etna appear to be stabilising.

On Saturday the river of lava was nearly 100 meters from a tourist base and about four kilometres (2.5 miles) from Nicolosi.

Emergency workers are building embankments to direct the flows away from inhabited areas.

But ash from the volcano is giving eastern Sicily's main airport a headache. Flights were diverted after it was closed for a few hours.

It was the second time in as many weeks that flights into and out of Fontanarossa airport were cancelled or diverted because thick flakes of grey ash covering the airstrip made flying too dangerous.

Sapienza: Under threat from the creeping lava flow

The airport was reopened late Saturday after the ash was cleared away, news reports said.

Emergency workers continued a round-the-clock battle to prevent Etna's lava flow reaching mountainside tourist facilities.

Officials said the lava was slowing but still threatening a clutch of souvenir shops and a cable car base.

Nello Musumeci, a government commissioner, said: "We are fighting an enemy which is much stronger than man."

Sonia Calvari, volcanologist with the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Catania, Sicily, told CNN: "We know now that the volcano is still inflating. We see lava flow in many parts of the eruptive fissure.

"It's, of course, a very important eruption. The most important I've seen in 15 years."

Experts say the eruption could go on for weeks.

The last major eruption of Mount Etna, which towers 10,860 feet (3,310 metres) above Sicily, was in 1992. In a spectacular operation, Italian and U.S. military used controlled explosions to divert the flow.