Under the Italian sun of Lake Albano and the shade of Castel Gandolfo’s Borgo Laudato Si’ trees, Pope Leo XIV enjoyed lunch with people experiencing social vulnerability. Source: NCR Online.
About 200 people from the Diocese of Rome took part in the event on Saturday.
“Lunch with the Pope” was “a day of welcome and fraternity” within the Pontifical Gardens of Castel Gandolfo, the Vatican’s Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education said in a statement.
Before the guests, including nearly 40 children, enjoyed the guided tour through the gardens, the day began with Mass celebrated by Cardinal Fabio Baggio, general director of the Laudato Si’ Centre for Higher Education, and concelebrated by Archbishop Luis Marín de San Martín, prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity.
“I came without a prepared speech, but I did come with hunger – hunger for justice, hunger for genuine charity, hunger for a Church that truly knows how to open its doors, to welcome and receive everyone; where there is love for all and no one is an enemy, where all of us know how to live reconciliation, forgiveness and peace,” Pope Leo said, welcoming those present.
Leo recalled that one of the pope’s titles is the “Pontiff – a builder of bridges.”
“And today we too want to build a bridge with all of you, with your families, and with the society in which we want to live – a society marked by justice, where the causes of poverty can be eliminated and where the causes of the injustices that still exist in our world can be overcome,” he said.
“This,” he said, “is the Church we want to be.”
Only a few months after taking upon the See of Peter, Pope Leo first met with people experiencing vulnerability from the Albano Diocese. That meeting on August 17, 2025, gave birth to an annual tradition of encounters with the underprivileged.
“Each year, a diocese will be invited to involve people living in situations of poverty, refugees, migrants, and others experiencing social vulnerability,” to let them experience “ the beauty of creation” and create an “opportunity to meet the Holy Father,” the Laudato Si’ Centre said.
Leo expressed his gratitude to those who organised the July 11 gathering, which included dozens of organisations that on a daily basis assist people experiencing vulnerability.
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Pope Leo shares meal with vulnerable guests at Castel Gandolfo (By Paulina Guzik, OSV News via NCR Online)
