Pope Leo XIV shared lunch with homeless and poor people at Castel Gandolfo on July 11, 2026, an event that is expected to become an annual tradition featuring different dioceses. The gathering has inspired renewed momentum for Fratello, a French Catholic nonprofit that organizes communal meals and prayer vigils uniting the poor with Christian communities across the globe.
At the papal lunch, Pope Leo XIV told those gathered: “Today, we would like to build a bridge with all of you. This is the Church we want to be.” The sentiment echoes the spiritual mission that has driven Fratello’s work since its founding in 2016, in the wake of a pilgrimage that brought several thousand homeless people to Rome during the Jubilee of Mercy.
A Model of Accompaniment
Fratello operates in roughly 40 countries across Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America—including Chile, Cameroon, and the Philippines. The organization’s signature initiative, the “Banquets of Friendship,” brings poor and marginalized people together with parishes for shared meals and prayer. Aymard Leclercq, the organization’s vice president, describes the work as fundamental to Catholic witness: “The mission of Fratello is, as Pope Francis said, to meet the poorest and to work with them, and to put the poor at the center of the Church.”
The model unfolds across four elements. A Vigil of Mercy takes place on Saturday evening, followed by Mass on Sunday. Participants then gather for the Friendship Banquet itself. The sequence concludes with a worldwide prayer gathering conducted via videoconference, lasting roughly thirty minutes and connecting communities across continents in simultaneous intercession.
World Day of the Poor and Pilgrimage
Fratello’s activities align with the Church’s liturgical calendar. Pope Francis, Fratello’s spiritual founder, established World Day of the Poor at the conclusion of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2016. This year, the observance falls on November 15, the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, and will serve as a focal point for parishes to deepen their commitment to the poor through Fratello’s framework.
A symbol of the movement’s reach is the traveling replica of the “Our Lady of Tenderness” statue. About thirty copies of the image, which Pope Francis blessed in 2023, are circulating through parishes and communities worldwide, serving as a tangible reminder of the Church’s maternal solicitude for those in need.
From Vision to Practice
The papal lunch at Castel Gandolfo represents a concrete embodiment of Catholic social teaching. Pope Leo XIV’s gesture—and his declaration that the Church must build bridges with the poor—echoes the vision articulated in papal encyclicals on social justice and economic dignity. The establishment of an annual tradition invites dioceses to internalize this priority, making the preferential option for the poor not merely a rhetorical commitment but a recurring practice embedded in the life of local churches.
Fratello’s expansion demonstrates how a single initiative, rooted in mercy and grounded in sacramental practice, can take root across continents. The organization began with a bold act—bringing thousands of homeless pilgrims to Rome—and has sustained that momentum through disciplined, recurring community gatherings that honor both the dignity and the practical needs of the poor.
The convergence of papal action and grassroots mobilization reflects a Church attempting to live out its own teaching. As World Day of the Poor approaches in November, parishes enrolled in Fratello’s model will have the opportunity to ask themselves what it means to truly place the poor at the center of their life together, not as objects of charity alone, but as members of the communion of saints.