Catastrophic flooding and landslides have killed as many as 1600 people since mid-November, while UN estimates say the severe weather has forced some 1.2 million people from their homes and otherwise affected nearly 10 million others, with roads, utilities and farmland submerged, submerged, rendered inoperable, or simply washed away.
“I am close to the people of South and Southeast Asia, sorely affected by the recent natural disasters,” said Pope Leo in remarks to pilgrims and tourists gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday.
The pontiff offered prayers for “victims, for the families mourning their loved ones, and for those providing assistance.”
UN teams across the region are among those supporting government-led emergency rescue and relief operations, as ongoing heavy rains raise fears the crisis may worsen before it abates.
“I urge the international community,” Leo said, “and all people of good will to support our brothers and sisters in those regions with gestures of solidarity.”
The pope made his appeal after leading the traditional Sunday Angelus from the window of the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter’s Square on the Second Sunday of Advent.
Leo briefly remembered his historic visit to Turkey to mark the 1700th anniversary of the watershed First Council of Nicaea, and to Lebanon, a religiously and socially diverse country he called “a mosaic of coexistence.”
Leo also spoke of the joy he had in Turkey, of meeting the country’s small Catholic community. “Through patient dialogue and service to those who suffer,” he said, “[the Catholic community] bears witness to the Gospel of love and the logic of God manifested in smallness.”
Leo recalled especially how Sunday, December 7, 2025, marks the 60th anniversary of the Joint Declaration between Pope St. Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople, which ended their mutual excommunications.
“Let us give thanks to God and renew our commitment to the journey toward the full visible unity of all Christians.”