Ten years after the severe earthquake that shook central Italy in 2016, Pope Leo XIV has called on politicians and state institutions to act swiftly. During a meeting at the Vatican with representatives of the affected communities, he demanded that the people of Abruzzo, the Marche, Lazio and Umbria receive «tangible and urgent answers». Hope, he said, must be translated into concrete commitments borne together.
The earthquake, whose main shock reached magnitude 6.0, claimed 303 lives and injured 388 people according to the figures cited by the Pope; around 41,000 people lost their homes. The municipalities of Amatrice, Accumoli and Arquata del Tronto were almost completely destroyed. Numerous small towns and their historical and artistic heritage were also severely damaged, and some villages disappeared entirely from the maps. Leo XIV recalled that these events have left deep wounds in the communities to this day.
Already during the Angelus prayer on 23 August, the anniversary of the quake, the Pope had remembered the dead and their families and called for support for the reconstruction effort. In his address to the delegates, he now stressed that the restoration of material infrastructure must take place as quickly as possible, safely and transparently. At the same time, lasting hope requires a perspective and points of orientation that show the way.
As the foundation of his message, the Pope drew on the Book of Nehemiah, which describes the return of the people to Jerusalem, whose city still lay in ruins after its destruction by the Babylonians. From this he derived a communal approach: a city is not rebuilt through the work of a single individual, but through the shared responsibility of the whole people. Reconstruction also requires a vision. What is needed, said Leo XIV, is not merely good intentions or disorganised volunteer efforts, but the insight to recognise, in the rubble, the design of a house and a city.
The Pope encouraged the communities to continue on this path with a synodal approach of building together and with a prophetic vision that starts from present needs and keeps in view the common good to be pursued. As models he named Saint Rita of Cascia and Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, who had brought peace to devastated families and communities through prayer and the proclamation of the Gospel. He also pointed to Saint Benedict, who renewed Church and society through prayer and work, and to Saint Francis of Assisi, who first rebuilt small churches in the region and later recognised that the «house» the Lord meant was the Church itself.
In closing, Leo XIV quoted the prophet Haggai. In order to begin anew, what gives a community meaning and foundation must first be rebuilt, otherwise everything falls apart. It is necessary to start again from the centre: from God, from people, from the common good and from relationships. On this foundation, hope will endure, the Pope said, assuring the people of his closeness and calling on them to set to work with courage.