Pope Francis visits earthquake-hit towns of central
Italy
(Vatican Radio) Pope
Francis visited the earthquake-hit towns of central Italy in a surprise journey
on Tuesday morning, praying with the residents of Amatrice on the feast day of
his namesake, St. Francis, telling them to ‘move forward’ together for
‘there is always a future’
The Holy Father arrived by
car with the Bishop of Rieti, Domenico Pompili, in Amatrice on Tuesday morning
at 9:10 a.m. to visit those people affected by the earthquake of 24 August.
His first visit was to the
newly constructed ‘Capranica’ school, where the Pope met with elementary and
middle-school aged children, who gave him several of their handmade drawings.
Pope Francis hugged them
one-by-one and listened to their stories of the deadly earthquake in Amatrice
where 231 of the total 297 people died.
During his visit, Pope
Francis told the residents of Amatrice, “I thought long and hard in the first
days of these many pains that my visit, perhaps, would be more of a hindrance
than a help, a greeting. I didn’t want to be a bother so I let a little time pass,
so that some things could be resolved, like the school. But from the first
moment, I felt that I needed to come to you! Simply to express my closeness to
you, nothing more. And I pray, pray for you! Solidarity and prayer: this is my
offering to you. May the Lord bless you all; may Our Lady watch over you in
this moment of sadness, pain, and trial.”
After blessing them, he said,
“Let’s move forward; there is always a future. There are many loved ones who
have left us, who fell here under the rubble. Let us pray to Our Lady for them;
let us do it together. Always look ahead. Courage, and help each other. One
walks better together, alone we go nowhere. Forward! Thank you.”
The Holy Father then went to
the heavily damaged centre of Amatrice accompanied by the Mayor Sergio Pirozzi.
There he paused for several minutes to pray.
A press release by the Holy
See Press Office said, “Already on Sunday, during his inflight press conference
on the flight from Baku to Rome, Pope Francis had said he would make this visit
‘privately, alone, as a priest, as a bishop, as Pope. But alone. This is how I
want to do it. And I would like to be close to the people.’”
Nearly 4,000 people are
living in tents near Amatrice after their homes were destroyed in the
6.0-magnitude earthquake.
Afterwards, the Pope stopped
to have lunch with around 60 elderly people living in the 'St. Raphael Assisted
Living Facility' in Rieti. In the afternoon, Pope Francis visited the
headquarters of the Fire Station at Cittareale that serves as a base camp for
the entire area affected by the earthquake.
His next stop was in
Accumoli, one of the towns that suffered the worst destruction, where he
greeted a number of people and prayed in front of the ruins of the church of St
Francis destroyed by the quake. From Accumoli, the Pope then travelled to the
village of Pescara del Tronto where he stopped three times along the street to
greet groups of people.
His final stop was the nearby
village of Arquata del Tronto where he greeted and delivered a brief address to
more than 100 people and prayed the Hail Mary with them. During his stop there
he also visited a makeshift school set up for children in the tent city.
In his brief remarks the Pope
told the residents he wanted "to be close during this time and tell you
that I carry you in my heart and know about about your suffering and your
anguish." I know also, he continued, "about your loved ones who died
and I am with you and for this reason I wanted to be here today..... Take
courage and always move forward. Times change and it's possible to move ahead.
I am close to you, I am with you."
(Devin Sean Watkins)
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