Pope Leo XIV on Sunday extended his heartfelt condolences to the families affected by the devastating floods in Texas, which have claimed at least 50 lives and left nearly 30 people missing, many of them children.
Speaking after his Angelus prayers, the US-born pontiff stated, “I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters who were in a summer camp in the disaster caused by flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas. We pray for them.”
Rescue teams worked through the night to locate 27 girls and teenagers missing from a riverside summer camp after Friday’s flash floods.
The Guadalupe River rose by eight metres (26 feet) in just 45 minutes as nearly 300 millimetres of rain, a third of the average annual rainfall, fell per hour.
Following his message, Pope Leo travelled to Castel Gandolfo, his summer residence southeast of Rome, for a two-week break.
