Eclipse Not End Of The World?
Tuesday August 10 8:35 AM ET
dailynews.yahoo.com
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - It's only an eclipse of the sun, not the end of the world, Mexico has warned its people.
As Wednesday's solar eclipse nears, some Mexicans have taken it to mean the end is nigh, handing out leaflets warning
fellow citizens to prepare for catastrophe.
Similar predictions of doom have come from other corners of the world.
''There is absolutely no scientific evidence that eclipses are related to, or associated with, disasters or catastrophes,'' the
Interior Ministry, responsible for internal security, said in a press release issued late Sunday.
Besides, the ministry reasoned, the eclipse won't even be visible in Mexico. Instead the moon will block out the sun over
swathes of the North Atlantic, Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.
The government warning came on top of similar appeals for calm from the local Roman Catholic Church, which has told
Mexican Catholics there is no need for priests to bless candles and matches, as some people have sought.
In his Sunday homily, Mexican Cardinal Norberto Rivera told the faithful that ''an eclipse is very different from the end of
the world.''
Still, the government denial might be taken as a signal that trouble really is brewing, the daily newspaper Reforma said in an
editorial Monday. ''Government bulletins rarely are in touch with reality, so if we're not careful the world just might come to
an end,'' Reforma said.
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