On the evening of August 4, 2025, Pope Leo XIV visited 15-year-old Ignacio Gonzálvez at the Bambino Gesù Hospital in Rome, where the Spanish participant in the Youth Jubilee has been hospitalized for several days.
Ignacio suffers from severe lymphoma that affects his respiratory tract. On Friday, the Pope arrived to the ICU without warning, and spent about 30 minutes with the young patient, his parents Pedro Pablo and Carmen Gloria, and other members of the family.
“We are made for heaven,” he told them, according to the Spanish COPE news agency.
Ignacio is sedated, so he was not able to interact with the Pope. But for his parents, the visit was a consolation from God. The Pope's visit is “a sign that God has not abandoned me,” Carmen Gloria said.
Pedro Pablo said that the Pope's words were the "best thing that could have happened to us," explaining that the Holy Father "told us that the important thing is to do God's will, that our true place is eternal life in heaven.”
“Everything we are going through is touching many hearts. What began as a journey of faith has become a mission we did not expect: to bear witness to hope in the midst of illness," he added.
A world united in prayer
Already during the prayer vigil at Tor Vergata on August 2, the Pontiff invited the crowd of one million young people to pray for the young Spaniard, as well as for two other pilgrims who died during their stay in Rome for the great Jubilee gathering.
Both of those pilgrims had previous health conditions. Maria, a 20-year-old Spanish woman with terminal cancer, died July 30; and Pascale, an 18-year-old Egyptian woman suffering from heart problems, lost her life to a heart attack on Friday night. The Pontiff went on to meet at the Vatican with her pilgrimage group of young Egyptians.
Located near the Vatican, Bambino Gesù is a hospital belonging to the small state. It is internationally renowned for its pediatric services.
After his time with Gonzálvez and his family, the Pope went to the oncology ward to greet patients, parents, and members of the staff.
In an emotional atmosphere, he recited the Our Father and blessed those present before returning to the Vatican.
Victims of wars
Pope Francis also made a number of visits to the Bambino Gesù. For example, in 2022, he went to visit young Ukrainians being treated for their war wounds.
And in 2018, during the Jubilee of Mercy, he chose the hospital as the destination for one of his Fridays of Mercy visits.
