Bishop Defeated: Basilica Will Be Rebuilt

Saint Benedict’s Basilica in Norcia will be rebuilt, “exactly as it was before,” the local mayor announced (UmbriaDomani.it, March 22).

This marks a crushing defeat of Spoleto-Norcia Archbishop Renato Boccardo.

In a lofty Avvenire article, Boccardo had proposted to “preserve the memory of the past” by integrating the remains of the collapsed church into a new construction because “we cannot erase” the scars of the earthquake.

Boccardo wanted an international competition open to “the big names” of architecture.

The population was horrified, but now the mayor reassured them, “The basilica will have the accustomed old face to make us feel safe when we are inside again."

The basilica belongs to the State.

Picture: © Silvio Sorcini, CC BY-SA, #newsSakwfmijzj