Pope Francis has expressed his condolence to the victims of an explosion in the Spanish city of Madrid, which killed four people, including a local Catholic priest, on Wednesday, January 20.
Authorities in the Spanish capital said the blast was likely caused by a gas leak on the upper stories of a building owned by the Catholic Church.
Three people died when the top five stories of the building blew apart.
Father Rubén Pérez Ayala, 36, was pulled from the rubble and taken to hospital. He died from his wounds early Thursday morning.
The other three victims included a local electrician who was working on the building’s boiler, an 85-year-old Spanish woman, and a Bulgarian citizen. Eleven others were injured in the blast.
Pope Francis, in his telegram to the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, Carlos Osoro Sierra, expressed his sorrow over the incident and voiced his closeness and affection as the archdiocese mourns.
Pope Francis said he is praying for the victims, the injured, and their families. He also “commends the victims in a special way to God’s mercy and prays for their eternal repose.”
The building that was destroyed in the blast was owned by the local parish Church of Our Lady of the Dove.
It was part of a complex used for residential training of priests, and also provided meals for the homeless.
The top five floors were totally destroyed, with walls blown out, while the bottom two floors were still mostly intact, but charred in places from the flames. – With reports from Vatican News and Reuters
