ASSISI, Italy (January 3, 1998 10:42 a.m. EST http://www.nando.net) -- Pope John Paul II toured central Italy by helicopter and met with homeless residents Saturday, encouraging residents of the region to rebuild not only historic towns but also their lives.
His first stop was the hamlet of Annifo, where only seven houses were left standing after two powerful earthquakes hit the Umbria and Marche regions Sept. 26.
In explaining why he did not visit the area earlier, John Paul told a crowd of several thousand people, "I would have liked to have gone immediately to the areas devastated by the quake, but this would have disturbed the work of the first-aid workers."
In 1980, when Naples was hammered by an even more destructive quake, John Paul traveled there almost straight away. But the visit was criticized because the heavy security arrangements complicated rescue work.
The pontiff's main stop Saturday was Assisi, where he prayed at the tomb of St. Francis, the 13th-century basilica that sustained serious damage to priceless frescoes when its ceiling collapsed.
Recounting his helicopter ride Saturday from Rome over this region's valleys, John Paul said he was "shocked by the spectacle of houses, churches, palaces full of history that were reduced to a pile of rubble in just a few moments."
Thousands are spending the winter in tents, waiting for the government to provide prefabricated trailer homes. Many people refuse to sleep in inhabitable homes for fear of aftershocks, such as the one that rattled the valley near Annifo on Friday.
The pope, praising the generosity shown to many of the quake victims, urged them "not to give in to discouragement, even when faced with great difficulties."
-- By FRANCES D'EMILIO, The Associated Press