Pope Leo XIV visits Don Orione care center in Argentina: people with disabilities are 'a blessing'

Pope Leo XIV visits Don Orione care center in Argentina: people with disabilities are 'a blessing'.

Pope Leo XIV spent Monday morning at the Pequeño Cottolengo Don Orione care center in Claypole, outside Buenos Aires, meeting staff and the people they care for on the second day of his Apostolic Journey to Argentina, Vatican News reported.

Founded in 1935 by St. Luigi Orione, the center welcomes and cares for people with disabilities. It is home to more than 400 residents in 14 residential houses on a campus of about 50 hectares.

The pope praised the center's workers and described it as a place where charity can be seen in everyday gestures and relationships. People with disabilities, he said, are not a burden on society but a blessing.

He contrasted the center's values with societies "often driven solely by the pursuit of economic success or the cult of outward appearance," and said "a nation's progress is also measured by how it welcomes all people with disabilities and particular needs," according to Vatican News.

Pope Leo voiced hope that thousands of young Argentines would volunteer in works of charity and that a new generation of saints devoted to service would emerge. Recalling the relic of Don Orione's heart kept in the community's chapel, he said "charity will save the world" because "God is love," and closed by affirming that "the love of Christ triumphs over individualism and exclusion."

The pope arrived in Buenos Aires on Sunday after concluding his visit to Uruguay. Focus Plus Media will continue to follow his journey. Original reporting is linked below.