The Pope chooses a center for immigrants and homeless people for his first visit: “Whoever is in Madrid is from Madrid”

In preparation for the Pope’s trip, there was a dispute about where Leo XIV should enter Madrid. A triumphal entry through the Puerta de Alcalá was proposed, but it was soon noted that he would prefer the city’s outskirts, in line with Francis. And so it has been. After the obligatory visit to the Royal Palace, for the welcome of the head of state, on Saturday afternoon Robert Prevost’s first visit was through Madrid’s back door, where the last arrive, without papers and without a home. One of the places that welcomes them is the Caritas Cedia 24 Horas center, in the Lucero neighborhood, Latina district, which serves 2,500 people a year, mainly undocumented immigrants and homeless people.

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After the morning’s speech against polarization and exclusion, this has been its practical application, another direct gesture against the far-right’s anti-immigration discourse. With these types of visits, spread throughout this week’s program, the Pontiff wants to focus for a few hours on less visible realities.

In his brief speech, the Pope succinctly summarized his idea of welcoming those who arrive in another country, an idea that pulverizes any national priority. In response to the city’s archbishop, Cardinal José Cobo, he said: “As His Eminence has said, whoever is in Madrid, is from Madrid.” Robert Prevost also lamented that “the exercise of charity is despised or ridiculed, as if it were the fixation of a few and not the incandescent core of the ecclesial mission.”

Already two hours before his arrival, dozens of people awaited him under a scorching sun, in a simple setting with an auditorium of white plastic chairs. It felt like a neighborhood summer cinema, not that a Pope was about to arrive. The center is surrounded by buildings with balconies, from which hang flags of Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Peru, Spain with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and some towns.

Alfa, a 26-year-old boy who emigrated from Sierra Leone, swells with pride when asked what it means for him to see the Pope. “A lot, for me, a lot,” he says, raising his hand towards the sky: “I am the first person from my country who will see the Pope so closely.”

The ceremony was simple and emotional. It was opened by the Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal José Cobo, emphasizing the idea of welcome: “Madrid has always been a city of encounter and many open doors. (…) And today you enter Madrid through a singular door: small in appearance, but immense in mercy.”

The center’s director, Juanjo Gómez, explained to the Pontiff who passes through there: “Women and men scarred by the wounds of the street: discarded, undocumented, without job opportunities or residence, often with mental health problems, addictions, and without any kind of support networks.”

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70 volunteers and social educators work at the center. The Pontiff visited the facilities, greeted the workers, and signed the guestbook with the following phrase: “Allow yourselves to be challenged by the gaze of those who need your help and welcome them with the charity of Christ. With all affection, I ask God to bless you.” And afterwards, he unveiled a commemorative plaque of the visit.

“We are family,” he said during his speech. Outside, dozens of people waited to catch a glimpse of Leo XIV through a crack.

The meaning of including this center in the agenda, the first act of all, is clear: this is the Church Prevost wants, and it represents a society that demonizes no one and excludes no one. “Our door is open 24 hours a day, we demand nothing from those who knock,” summarized the director. The center offers beds, food, showers, information, and workshops. Caritas Diocesana de Madrid has supported nearly 90,000 people in parishes and in more than 400 social projects for families, homeless people, migrants, youth, and the elderly in 2025.

Afterwards, three testimonies full of humanity followed, living representations against national priority discourses. The first, from Niurka, a 33-year-old Cuban lawyer, who briefly told her story: “Just over a year ago I arrived in Madrid alone, pregnant with my children, not knowing how I was going to get by. I was very scared. But the Church welcomed me.” Her two children, Ares and Atenea, were born at the center, and she held them in her arms as she addressed the pontiff: “Today I look at my children and I know we can have a future.”

Then Khadry spoke, who arrived in Spain from Senegal in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic: “I felt lost. I had left everything behind and didn’t know where to start. I felt alone. But I found people who welcomed me without asking anything.” His voice choked with emotion as he told the Pope about his struggle and how important the people who stood by him to support him had been. Today he has a job and a piece of paper means the most precious thing: his residence card. He gave the Pope a replica of the document: “It represents a lot of waiting and effort, but also a life that gets back on its feet.” The last testimony was from a woman named Alicia, a volunteer for the Adoratrices’ Esperanza project, who explained how accompanying the most needy “is for us a concrete way of proclaiming the Gospel: being close, listening, caring, and recognizing the sacred dignity of each person.”

Among the hundreds of neighbors who approached the place, Verónica Añasco is extremely excited. She was jumping in front of the center before the arrival of Leo IV. “Long live the Pope!” she shouted again and again. She has been in Spain for years, considers herself from the neighborhood, but is from Chiclayo, the Peruvian diocese where the Pontiff was bishop. Back then, he was just Father Roberto Prevost. “He has helped so many people there. He has an angel’s face… I am proud of him. Even if he doesn’t have Peruvian blood, it’s as if he does. The Pope is Peruvian,” she says with a smile while waving a banner that reads: “Chiclayo Peru, present with love for the Pope.”

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