6.6 magnitude earthquake shakes Italy but takes no lives

Earthquake damage in Norcia, Italy — (Image credit: Alberto Pizzoli/Getty Images)

A powerful earthquake struck central Italy Sunday morning, rattling the same region that has been shaken by multiple devastating quakes in recent months. Clocking in at 6.6 magnitude, Sunday's tremors collapsed several homes and churches. Some people were injured but no deaths have been reported.

Among the ruined buildings was the Monastery of St. Benedict in Norcia, built on a site where Benedictine monks have been active for more than a millennium.

"This is a tragedy. It is a coup de grace. The basilica is devastated," said Bishop Renato Boccardo of Norcia. "Everyone has been suspended in a never-ending state of fear and stress. They are at their wit's end."

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.