Pope Leo offers prayers for victims of Texas flooding

After a devastating flood hit the Hill Country of Texas, Pope Leo XIV gave his prayers to the victims, many of them children.

At least 51 people presumed dead after heavy rains hit along the Guadalupe River in central Texas, including at least 15 children attending a Christian summer camp for girls.

“I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters, who were at the summer camp, in the disaster caused by flooding of the Guadalupe river in Texas in the United States,” Leo said.

There are still 27 girls missing following the flood which rose 26 feet in less than an hour. They were attending the Camp Mystic in Kerry County, located outside the city of San Antonio.

“The camp was completely destroyed,” Elinor Lester, 13 and one of hundreds of campers, told The Associated Press. “A helicopter landed and started taking people away. It was really scary.

Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller said the situation in Kerrville was tragic.

I with many other leaders of faith, I invite you to do something in a tragic situation like this,” he said in the Archdiocese of San Antonio’s television service.

“Let us be aware of the vulnerability of everyone involved and especially those more directly involved. Those young and older people who were touched by the waters and affected by the flood, but also their families, friends from the whole community in … towns around, but even beyond,” he said.

We want to be in solidarity in one heart with those who are suffering [and] those who are going through uncertainty as the search continues,” García-Siller said.

“And I invite you in doing something to always consider prayer at the root of your efforts. And with whatever else you can do, do it with compassion, with love. Because every person is important, and also every family in suffering is our responsibility as we receive the call to serve and to care,” he continued.

“May God guide us in very stormy waters these days. And may we be present to those in pain, and to know that the control we have about life is limited and that we are called to trust in God,” the archbishop said.

“During these days, fear is useless. What is needed is trust in God and in one another,” he said.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who is Catholic, vowed that authorities will work around the clock and said new areas were being searched as the water receded and declared Sunday a day of prayer for the state.

“I urge every Texan to join me in prayer this Sunday — for the lives lost, for those still missing, for the recovery of our communities, and for the safety of those on the front lines,” he said in a statement.

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