MADRID (OSV News) ─ When Pope Leo XIV lands in Spain June 6, he will be greeted by King Felipe VI in the Royal Palace ─ a traditional welcome for a head of state arriving in the country.
But more symbolic is the first place Pope Leo has chosen to visit ─ far from the splendor of Palacio Real and close to the reality of thousands of people in the Spanish capital.
A Caritas center called CEDIA 24 Horas Social Project is part of the social ministry of the Church of Madrid for those who are homeless and that's where Pope Leo will head right after the meeting with the royals, diplomats and Spanish authorities ─ sending a clear message of priorities to Spanish society and the country's politicians.
"It's a day center where men and women come to receive counseling, psychological support. They can shower, eat, but it also has a night center section, where there are places to sleep," María Ángeles Altozano, spokeswoman for Caritas Madrid, told OSV News.
Located in the heart of Lucero ─ one of the poorest neighborhoods of Madrid ─ and in the middle of an area full of regular blocks of flats, CEDIA hosts 70 people every night, with the main building equipped with 45 beds for men and 25 beds for women located in another building. The day center is assisting 90 people daily.
Ángeles told OSV News that for her personally, the fact that the pope is coming to CEDIA "seems like a unique opportunity" for the people they work with ─ "so that they feel seen, so that they understand that they are very important and that there is a way for the Church of Madrid, and the Church in general, to care for them and give them the dignity they deserve."
"They are people worthy of love," she said.
"Sometimes there are people who arrive very damaged and believe that their main problem is that they are not worthy of love," Ángeles emphasized.
In front of the center, OSV News and a small group of other media representatives met Elmer León ─ a fellow Peruvian who shares his last name with the pope, a fact he proudly emphasized.
A miner who left Peru looking for a better life in Spain four years ago, he said he was "kicked off" from his apartment and onto the street, left with neither income nor a place to stay.
It took him six months to find a job. "I came to a point when my breakfast was my lunch, and my dinner was two large loaves of bread and four liters of water."
As he was standing in front of the center, he had a "Welcome to the Hall of Peace, Pope Leo XIV" poster hanging from around his neck.
"For us, and for me especially, it is a privilege as a human being and as a Peruvian," he said of the June 6 welcoming of the pope to their center.
"Perhaps God brought me here from so far away for this purpose, and here me and my colleagues await him. Spain will receive him with much love and affection," Elmer said.
For Juango Gomez-Escalonilla who works at the center, the pope's visit will simply "give visibility" to people like Elmer.
In CEDIA, they get daily accompaniment ─ psychological and job services, a warm meal, morning coffee and also entertainment, such as playing board games together. The community assistance is seeing people flourishing daily.
"More than 30% of those who come to CEDIA find work," Gomez-Escalonilla said, stressing that an option to stay in the night center for a month ─ a period for which it's allowed, with a safe locker to put one's belongings ─ gives a sense of security that changes lives as "80% manage not to go back to the street" after such assistance.
In 2025, 2,500 people in need were assisted in the day center, with 840 people sleeping in the night shelter, rotating monthly.
Only 15 of those sleeping in CEDIA in June will be able to meet the pope and three of them will speak to the Holy Father, sharing their testimony. The pope will also be handed a book with their stories, Caritas representatives said.
Ernesto Hernández, a 63-year-old Cuban, arrived in Spain in August 2025 after leaving the United States, where he had lived for years. Alone, without family or support, he soon found himself sleeping on the streets.
Other homeless people told him about CEDIA, and encouraged him to seek help there. Hernández followed their advice. Today, he is one of the 15 residents who will meet Pope Leo during the pontiff's visit to the center, although he will not be among the two residents selected to ask questions on behalf of the group.
Speaking about the possibility of encountering the pope, Hernández struggled to hold back tears. Asked what he would say to Leo, he paused before answering: "That he keeps helping the poor."
He also expressed hope that the pope would continue advocating for migrants and others living on the margins. "That he keeps caring about the poor, about immigrants who struggle in their countries," he said.
At CEDIA, Hernández said he found something he had not expected. "What I found here was a lot of love, honestly," he said. While acknowledging that every community has its challenges, he praised the staff and social workers who helped him navigate life in Spain and regularize his paperwork. "Everyone has been very kind and has tried to help solve all my problems," he said.
In the Lucero neighborhood where CEDIA is located, "when you walk through the neighborhood, you see many bunk beds through those windows," Caritas representatives told a group of reporters, including OSV News, in Madrid's Caritas center prior to the papal trip.
Throughout the neighborhood, families often live in very small apartments trying to squeeze into spaces shared with other families, often with four families living in four-bedroom apartments.
"To rent a room or house in Madrid, they ask to have seven years of professional income," Ángeleso said, emphasizing it's often impossible to live on one family salary in the city.
In Madrid alone, 1.3 million people are living in a situation of financial vulnerability, with 1 in 6 people in Madrid living in a situation of social exclusion, "without dignity," the Caritas spokeswoman said.
Despite a strong regional economy and recent job creation, the capital's soaring living costs have placed a massive burden on vulnerable households.
For Ángeles, "it's wonderful that someone like the pope, who represents the Church, can tell us, 'Hey, I'm here with you, I'm with the most vulnerable people, I'm with the workers in situations that are sometimes difficult,' and that they give us this opportunity. We're very grateful."
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Paulina Guzik is international editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @Guzik_Paulina.
