(OSV News) ─ During the pontificate of Pope Francis, the papal laundries for the poor were traditionally named after the pope. Pope Leo XIV asked that during his pontificate, they be named after St. Francis of Assisi.
The first such laundry room under Leo was opened in the northern Italian city of Parma on Nov. 6, only days ahead of World Day of the Poor.
"It seems a small thing," Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, longtime papal almoner and prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, told OSV News. But for the poor "to have a place to wash their clothes and change them is something that transforms lives," he emphasized.
In the Parma laundry room, opened in the presence of a "fantastic team of people who show a real joy of working together for the poor" -- the local diocesan Caritas, the mayor of Parma and the regional prefect -- the laundry room in Parma was opened after Mass, and followed with lunch with those in need.
"It will not be the solution to world poverty, which must be sought with intelligence, tenacity, and social commitment. But we need to practice almsgiving to touch the suffering flesh of the poor," Cardinal Krajewski said in a Nov. 6 press release from the Vatican's charity office.
"The place is incredible -- really well done, like a home," papal almoner told OSV News. Northern Italy's Parma, famed for Parmesan cheese and Parma ham, is a university city not only full of foreign nationals, but also migrants, who will also use the laundry room.
"This inauguration," Bishop Enrico Solmi of Parma said, "represents a precious piece that completes the mosaic of Caritas' care and services for people in need, in their various basic needs."
"Thank you to the people who come to us asking for help," the bishop said. They "are a constant appeal to remain human and to make our coexistence more humane and just."
Supported by Procter & Gamble, which provided laundry detergents for the whole year -- the initiative follows in the footsteps of Pope Francis' Laundries, now widespread in various parts of Italy, including Rome.
The first one opened inthe Eternal City in 2017, followed by Genoa, Turin, Naples, Catania and San Ferdinando in Reggio Calabria. The laundries are "places where the needy and homeless can find everything they need for personal hygiene and laundry free of charge, including access to shower facilities," the Vatican's press release said.
"It gives them back their dignity," Cardinal Krajewski said of the place. "The needy don't have washers, and the fact that they will be able to wash their clothes really changes the way society treats them, they are not different from others on the streets when their clothes are clean," and they can also "use showers at the same time" in the provided space.
Il Poverello ─ or "The Little Poor One" ─ as St. Francis is called in Italy, was quoted several times in Pope Leo's first apostolic exhortation, "Dilexi Te" ("I have loved you").
"By embracing poverty, he wanted to imitate Christ, who was poor, naked and crucified," the pope said in the document that was started by Pope Francis and finished by Pope Leo.
"Francis did not found a social service organization, but an evangelical fraternity," the pope said in "Dilexi Te."
"In the poor, he saw brothers and sisters, living images of the Lord. His mission was to be with them, and he did so through a solidarity that overcame distances and a compassionate love," he said, adding that "Francis’ poverty was relational: it led him to become neighbor, equal to, or indeed lesser than others. His holiness sprang from the conviction that Christ can only be truly received by giving oneself generously to one’s brothers and sisters."
The laundry in Parma was opened only days ahead of the Nov. 16 Jubilee of the Poor, celebrated during World Day of the Poor, established by Pope Francis.
In his message for the 2025 World Day of the Poor, released June 13 and titled after Psalm 71: "You are my hope," the pope said that Christian hope must move beyond comforting words to real responsibility and structural change to uplift the poor.
"We must never forget that we were saved in this hope, and need to remain firmly rooted therein," the pope wrote in the message.
Love for the poor is often underlined by Pope Leo.
On Aug. 17, spending the day with the poor, Pope Leo XIV prayed that Catholics would make sure their parishes are welcoming of all people and would be “on fire” with God’s love.
In his apostolic exhortation “Dilexi Te," promulgated Oct. 9, Pope Leo XIV has taken up the call of Pope Francis for Christians to see in the poor the very face of Christ ─ and to be a church that “walks poor with the poor” in order to authentically live out the Gospel.
The exhortation "to all Christians on love for the poor," explores the topic through the lens of Scripture, church teaching and the witness of the saints.
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Paulina Guzik is international editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @Guzik_Paulina. CNS Rome and Ginna Christian contributed to this report.
