Pope Leo XIV will welcome 200 people living in vulnerable circumstances for “Lunch with the Pope” on Saturday, July 11, in the Pontifical Gardens of Castel Gandolfo. The gathering, organized around the values of hope, welcome, and inclusion, will include 35 children and will be held in partnership with the Diocese of Rome and several charitable organizations. For many of the guests, the day will be a chance to spend time in beauty and reflection, far from daily hardship.
The program begins with Mass celebrated by Cardinal Fabio Baggio, Director General of the Laudato Si’ Higher Education Center, with Archbishop Luis Marín de San Martín, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, concelebrating. After Mass, guests will have refreshments and a guided tour led by staff from Borgo Laudato Si’. Organizers describe Castel Gandolfo as a place with deep history. Closed to the public for 400 years, it was first opened by Pope Francis and is now being opened even wider under Pope Leo. Donatella Parisi, Communications Coordinator of the Laudato Si’ Higher Education Center, called the guests “guests of honor” and said the gardens, with over 4,000 plants from more than 300 species, are being offered as a symbol of a Church without barriers.
Parisi said the event reflects a consistent message from Pope Leo: that the Church must remain open, especially to those on the existential peripheries. She linked it to his recent attention to Lampedusa, where he highlighted the suffering of people fleeing war, poverty, and injustice. “We reaffirm that the Church is open to everyone and is a family, a community, and a safe harbor for those who need it most,” she noted.
This year’s participants come from Rome, following last year’s group from the Diocese of Albano. The group includes refugees, single mothers with children, people with disabilities, and graduates of training programs at Borgo Laudato Si’ who are now moving toward jobs and integration. Organizers hope the initiative rotates each year to include a different diocese. Parisi emphasized that the day is not only about giving help. “What we experience every day here is that these very people are the ones who give. They enrich the Village and the whole Church through their presence and through their call for a different way of looking at society, a perspective that points to fragility as a new source of strength.”
The lunch has been donated by Rome restaurant L’Isola della Pizza, and morning refreshments by Bar Duomo in Albano, both close partners of the Laudato Si’ Village project. The menu will feature Italian cuisine while also considering guests from different cultural backgrounds.
The event also reflects Pope Leo’s personal attention to Castel Gandolfo and to the Laudato Si’ Village. Earlier this month he met participants of the first “Borgo Laudato Si’ Dialogues” at the Vatican, a gathering of international business leaders discussing how workplaces can become more sustainable. The guiding idea, drawn from Pope Francis’ encyclicals and reaffirmed in Magnifica Humanitas, is to see ourselves as “creatures among creatures.”