Pope Leo urges swift, safe, transparent rebuild a decade after central Italy quakes
Editorial illustration — Press Pass USAPope Leo XIV received delegations from central Italy's earthquake-hit municipalities at the Vatican on Saturday, October 31, and urged that rebuilding, ten years after a devastating sequence of quakes, proceed as quickly as possible — safely and transparently.
"Ten years have passed since the tragic series of earthquakes that struck your regions. These events claimed hundreds of lives, caused widespread destruction and brought profound suffering to entire communities, which still bear the scars today," Leo said in his address, published by the Holy See Press Office.
The quakes that struck Lazio, Marche, Umbria and Abruzzo between August 2016 and January 2017 killed 299 people and injured 365, CathoNews reported. A decade on, recovery remains incomplete, with roughly 10,000 people still living in temporary housing and severe destruction persisting in hard-hit towns such as Amatrice.
Leo framed reconstruction as a shared task, drawing on the Book of Nehemiah, which he cited from his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas. The city is reborn "not through the efforts of a single person, but through the shared responsibility of the whole people," he said — and rebuilding also requires vision, "eyes capable of discerning, amidst the ruins, the blueprint for a home and a city."
He pointed to the region's saints as models of that twofold approach: St. Rita of Cascia and St. Nicholas of Tolentino, who brought peace to communities devastated by hatred and violence; St. Benedict, who rebuilt church and society through prayer and work; and St. Francis of Assisi, eight hundred years after his death, who heard Christ's call — "Go and repair my house, which, as you see, lies in ruins" — and began by physically restoring small churches.
"For hope to be lasting, it requires a sense of direction," Leo said, turning to the prophet Haggai, who urged a people preoccupied with their own homes not to forget the center that gives a community meaning and foundation. "It is therefore a matter of starting anew from the centre, of starting anew from God, from people, from the common good, and from relationships."
"For this reason, ten years after the earthquake, we must devote all our energy to ensuring that the physical reconstruction takes place as quickly as possible, safely and transparently," he said.
He closed with Haggai's words — "Take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you" (Haggai 2:4) — and blessed the delegations and their communities, invoking the Blessed Virgin Mary and their patron saints.
Sources: Holy See Press Office (Oct 31, 2026, full text of the address); CathoNews (Oct 31, 2026); Catholic News World (Oct 31, 2026).
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