Two weeks after a deadly New Year’s Eve fire killed at least 40 people at a bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana, Pope Leo XIV met privately Jan. 15 with relatives of the victims and spoke to them about Christ’s closeness to them amid their suffering.
The fire erupted shortly after midnight at Le Constellation bar, where a New Year’s celebration was underway. Swiss authorities said at least 116 people were injured, many with severe burns requiring transfer to specialized hospitals in Switzerland and neighboring countries. Most of the victims were young adults and teenagers.
Speaking to their families, the Pope acknowledged the limits of human language in the face of sudden and violent loss.
According to Vatican News, Pope Leo told the families he was “deeply moved” to meet them at a time when “one of the people most dear to you, most loved, has lost his or her life in a catastrophe of extreme violence, or is lying in hospital for a long period, with a body disfigured by the consequences of a terrible fire that has struck the imagination of the entire world.”
The Pope said that he made it a priority to meet with them once he learned they were also open to meeting with him.
Reflecting on the timing of the disaster, he expressed sorrow that it occurred on a day normally marked by celebration, when people were “rejoicing and celebrating, exchanging wishes of joy and happiness.”
“What can one therefore say in such circumstances?” Pope Leo asked. “What meaning can be given to such events? Where can one find a consolation equal to what you are experiencing, a comfort that is not made up of empty and superficial words, but that touches deeply and rekindles hope?”
Rather than offering an explanation for suffering, Pope Leo said the only “adequate” reflection is Christ’s cry of dereliction from the Cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
The Pope reminded them that the Father’s response came only after three days of silence, a waiting that ended in the Resurrection.
“But, then, what an answer it is!” he said. “Jesus rises again in glory, living forever in the joy and eternal light of Easter.”
“Your hope is not in vain, because Christ is truly risen!” the Pope told the families, adding that nothing, not even death, can separate them or their loved ones from the love of Christ.
“Be assured of Christ’s closeness and His tenderness: He is not distant from what you are experiencing; on the contrary, He shares it and carries it with you,” he said.
He reassured the families that Christ accompanies them in suffering and that the Church remains close to them in prayer, invoking Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, as one who is “close to you in these days.”
The Jan. 15 meeting followed earlier expressions of condolence from the Pope. In a telegram sent the day after the fire and signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, Pope Leo said he joined “in the mourning of the families and the entire Swiss Confederation” and expressed his “compassion and concern to the loved ones of the victims.”
The message, addressed to Bishop Jean-Marie Lovey of Sion, Switzerland, also prayed that God would “welcome the deceased into his dwelling of peace and light” and sustain “the courage of those who suffer in their hearts or in their bodies.”
