By Antonella Palermo
In the Paul VI Hall, the sound of Neapolitan melodies mingled with the laughter of 1,300 guests—the poor, the displaced, the forgotten—who had come to share lunch with Pope Leo on the Ninth World Day of the Poor.
The dishes served were simple: vegetable lasagna, cutlets, fruit from Naples, and babà for dessert.
At one table, a young Missionary of Charity fed a baby from a bottle. Her own plate of lasagna sat cooling on the table.
After reciting the Angelus in St Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV came to the Hall to have lunch with those gathered there.
“With great joy we gather this afternoon for this meal on this Day that was so dearly desired by my beloved predecessor, Pope Francis,” he said. “Let’s have a big round of applause for him.”
The Pope thanked the Vincentians for offering the meal. “We are truly, truly full of this spirit of thanksgiving and gratitude for this day,” he added.
As he blessed the food, the Pope turned his thoughts to those still suffering around the world.
“Let us also offer the Lord’s blessing to the many people who suffer due to violence, war, and hunger,” he said. “May we today celebrate this meal in a spirit of fraternity.”
A Hall filled with humanity
Around the room, Vincentian volunteers—marking the 400th anniversary of their founder—moved briskly among the tables, serving and smiling. In the foyer, they had prepared a personal-care kit for every guest, complete with a small panettone, a traditional Italian Christmas cake.
Guests came from near and far: from the Roman suburb of Primavalle, from Nigeria and Ukraine, from Cuba and Barcelona.
The Missionaries of Charity had brought several mothers from their house on the outskirts of Rome, where women in crisis find temporary refuge. At one table, a woman nursed her infant, her face marked by both tenderness and fatigue.
‘I lost my job, but not my dignity’
At another table sat a woman from southern Italy who had lost her job after being diagnosed with a disability. “I worked in a cafeteria,” she said. “They said I couldn’t handle it, and that was that. I’m sixty now. I manage somehow. It’s not easy, but I care about decency—one must always smile.”
Her story echoed many others—people who had lost work when factories closed, or income after the death of a parent they had cared for.
Still, hope found a way into nearly every story. One assistant from a Franciscan shelter in Assisi explained her work: “The meaning of life is to help others—the poor are the Gospel made flesh.”
‘Faith helps us keep going’
Across the table, a woman from Somalia with a broad Roman accent recounted her long journey of faith.
She had arrived in Rome at age twelve, found refuge with the sisters, and was baptized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. Now she is battling a serious illness, but she refuses to give up joking and desire to roll up her sleeves and work.
Nearby, a woman from Lviv said her cousins were fighting at the front in Ukraine. “We go on—what else can we do?” she said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever go home again.”
Francesco Cardillo, an artist known as Vardel, from Gaeta, flipped through his sketchbook filled with black-ink drawings. “My house was taken over; I was scammed,” he said. “I’d like to draw something for the Pope. I came here with Pope Francis once, now the Pope is new.”
Finding support in community
Scouts, Caritas volunteers, religious, and laypeople filled the hall, offering closeness to those who live at the margins of society.
At the Pope’s table, a woman held a comic book of Pinocchio she planned to gift to Pope Leo.
Nearby sat a young man from Côte d’Ivoire, who is not Catholic. “That doesn’t matter,” he said. “It’s beautiful here—you feel at home.”
A few seats away, women from Chiclayo, Peru, shared their own struggles. “I’m a widow,” one said. “I live with my mother and my daughter, who’s in treatment. We’ve been waiting for public housing for years—now we’ve moved up the list. We hope it works out. Faith helps us. I’m alive because of Jesus. Thank God there are still good people, people of goodwill.”
As the meal ended, the Pope stood again and gestured to the baskets of fruit from Naples, encouraging his guests to take some home with them and to pick up a gift basket at the door. – Vatican News
