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Pope Francis made a surprise visit on Tuesday to towns and villages devastated by an earthquake that killed nearly 300 people in central Italy in August, comforting residents, who lost everything and praying together for the dead, Reuters writes.
According to the source, the Vatican, which kept the trip secret until he arrived, issued pictures showing him standing alone and praying amid the rubble of Amatrice, one of the hardest-hit towns, with its still-standing church bell tower in the distance.

Addressing distraught residents with a megaphone, he said he wanted to come earlier but he did not want “to bother anyone” and preferred to let things settle down, particularly building a makeshift school for the children. “But from the first moment, I knew I wanted to come here, simply to say I am close to you. That I am close to you, nothing more. I pray for you. My closeness and my prayers are what I offer to you. May the Lord bless all of you.”

He visited the “red zone”, which covers the center of Amatrice and is closed to the public because it is still dangerous, with most of the buildings either leveled or considered too badly damaged to live in.