Pope Leo XIV Visits the Sick and says "A nation's progress is also measured by the welcome it offers to all people with disabilities and special needs." FULL TEXT in Argentina

At 7:45 a.m., the Holy Father Pope Leo XIV left the Apostolic Nunciature and traveled by car and open-top car to the Pequeño Cottolengo Don Orione de Claypole, where he visited the facility's staff and patients . Along the way, Pope Leo XIV was accompanied by approximately 100,000 people.
Upon his arrival, the Pope was welcomed by around 3,000 people and, at the main entrance, by the Bishop of Lomas de Zamora, His Excellency Monsignor Jorge Rubén Lugones, and by the Director of the Center, Brother Jorge David Silanes. The visit began with a welcoming song and the unveiling of a commemorative plaque. The Pontiff then paused in the Chapel of the Heart for a moment of prayer before the relic of the heart of Saint Luigi Orione. He then reached the stage set up in the facility for the start of the meeting. Immediately afterwards, the Holy Father listened to the introduction of the Bishop of Lomas de Zamora and the words of welcome from the Director of the Center. Then a blind resident and a resident with disabilities intervened to offer their testimonies.
Finally, the Holy Father greeted those present. The exchange of gifts and the blessing followed.

Before leaving the facility, the Pope made a brief private visit to the people with disabilities and addictions housed in the building located near the side exit of the Sanctuary.

FULL TEXT  greeting that the Pope addressed to those present during the visit:

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

I am very pleased to be able to share this meeting with all of you. I thank Bishop Jorge Lugones of Lomas de Zamora and Brother Jorge Silanes, director of this center, for their kind words. Thanks also to Marta and Norma for their testimonies. Thank you so much! Thank you all for the music and for welcoming me with such enthusiasm and joy.

There are places—like this House—where charity is not only expressed in works, but is recognized in every gesture, every face, every smile, and, we might say, even in the air we breathe. This is the "Little Cottolengo": a fraternal community with open doors, where everything speaks to us of God's love.

Saint Luigi Orione, its founder, wanted this place to be known as the "city of charity," and to build it, he prayed and worked for many years, trusting deeply in Divine Providence and moved by love for the most vulnerable in society, who were often ignored and abandoned. Remembering this yearning from the restless heart of Don Orione, father and pastor, three "cities" came to mind where Jesus also breathed the fresh, generous air of charity. These three cities are Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Bethany.

In Bethlehem, which means "House of Bread," Jesus was welcomed, hosted, and lovingly nourished by Mary and Joseph, and recognized with affection and admiration by both the wise and the humble. We can say that in Bethlehem, one breathes a love of life, and that love transforms the cold poverty of the surrounding environment into the warmth of a home. It is a place that respects the dignity of every human person, values ​​them, and welcomes them as a gift from God.

Years later, another city, Nazareth, was the place where Jesus learned to be part of a family and to integrate into a community, where he grew "in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man" ( Luke 2:52), and where he cultivated the value of work and responsibility. It is the place that does not marginalize people, but integrates them into social life, valuing and making the most of their talents and abilities, as Martha shows us with her life and through the book she wrote.

Finally, in the city of Bethany, sharing the gift of friendship with Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, Jesus experienced the value of authentic and sincere human relationships, where no one is marginalized or abandoned, but accompanied, listened to, and counseled, sharing faith and service, sorrows and joys. Ultimately, Bethany is the place that helps us escape individualism, where we feel loved and desire to love others in a concrete way. Places like these—as Norma told us in her testimony—make people feel welcomed, cared for, and loved just as they are.

As we see, Jesus lived in places where he breathed the air of charity; there he experienced family love, community integration, and fraternal friendship, sharing life with his loved ones. I hope this brief reflection will lead us to reflect and give thanks for the many "cities of charity," like this Little Cottolengo, where the Gospel continues to be alive and active, here and now, in this beautiful country.

In this regard, I would like to quote some words of my predecessor, Saint John Paul II , when, addressing a group of people with disabilities, he said that God's love is the foundation of our hope and our courage to live. "With Jesus Christ, God has shown us in an unsurpassable way how he loves each man and thereby confers upon him infinite dignity. Precisely those who suffer disabilities in body or spirit can recognize themselves as friends of Jesus, loved by him in a special way" ( Angelus , Osnabrück, 16 November 1980).

Dear brothers and sisters, many residents and workers, men and women religious, family members, and volunteers who collaborate in this great work have come to this meeting today. In their luminous gazes, I see so much closeness and patience; in their open hands, I recognize countless gestures of selfless service; in their generous hearts, I sense so much tenderness and understanding. Thank you all for your testimony of dedication and love for others.

The noble work you carry out here every day, with such affection, commitment, and dedication, is a solid foundation for the construction of a new city: the city of charity, of coexistence, and of peace. Certainly, "it is a slower, less visible, and less striking construction" than that of other types of cities, but "it is to this horizon of commitment, to this construction site of hope, that we give the name 'civilization of love'" ( Magnifica Humanitas , 185).

The values ​​of dignity, integration, and fraternal friendship that distinguish places like this have much to say to our societies, often driven exclusively by the pursuit of economic success or the cult of physical appearance. I would like to affirm today that your lives are not a burden to society; they are a blessing, because you can help us never forget the foundation of every human being's dignity and what is truly important in life. A nation's progress is also measured by the welcome it offers to all people with disabilities and special needs.

At this very special moment, I would like to share with all of you my best wishes for this country. May Argentina be capable of carrying out great works of charity, as we see here, where the love of Christ triumphs over individualism and exclusion. I imagine thousands of young people joining as volunteers in the great history of charity that the sincere and simple faith of the Argentine people has written over the centuries. May Argentina form a new generation of saints of charity! And why couldn't all of you be like that? The charity of Christ impels us! (cf. 2 Cor 5:14).

Dear friends, let us continue to respond with faith and hope to the universal call to holiness (cf. Lumen Gentium , 11). Our beloved Pope Francis also desired this , and for this reason he wrote: "We are all called to be saints by living our lives with love and by bearing witness in our daily activities, wherever we find ourselves" ( Gaudete et Exsultate , 14). Let us place the gifts we have received at the service of the smallest and the needy, each according to our own possibilities, so that the city of charity may be consolidated, expand, and break down the barriers of selfishness.

Finally, I would like to emphasize that here, in the chapel of this community, is the relic of Don Orione's heart, a testimony to the profound bond that united this holy Italian priest to the land of Argentina. His incorrupt heart continues to remind us that "charity will save the world," because "God is love" ( 1 John 4:8) and "Charity never ends" ( 1 Cor 13:8). The secret of that life given for love was revealed by my predecessor , Saint John Paul II, in his homily for the canonization of this tireless apostle, when he said: "The heart of this strategist of charity was 'boundless because it was expanded by the charity of Christ.' His passion for Christ was the soul of his daring life, the interior drive of an unreserved altruism, the ever-fresh source of an indestructible hope." ( Homily , 16 May 2004, 2).

Let us ask the Lord that, just as he shaped the hearts of the saints, he may also shape our hearts in his image: ardent in charity, benevolent in patience and persevering in humility (cf. Mt 11:29).

May God bless you all and shower abundant blessings on your families, your benefactors, and all your loved ones. I carry you in my heart. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Translated from https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2026/11/09/0887/01649.html