Pope Leo XIV visits Little Sisters of the Poor home in Istanbul, praising elderly residents as society’s wisdom and sisters’ fraternal charity.
Newsroom (28/11/2025 Gaudium Press )On the second day of his apostolic journey to Türkiye, Pope Leo XIV made an unhurried and deeply personal stop at a care home for the elderly run by the Little Sisters of the Poor on the outskirts of the city’s historic center.
The residence, a quiet oasis amid Istanbul’s bustling traffic, is home to a strikingly diverse group of seniors: Turkish citizens, members of the city’s historic Armenian community, Jewish residents, and refugees from several African nations. A simple phrase painted on a corridor wall beside the residents’ name cards sets the spiritual tone of the place: “The Other is Christ.”
The Pope’s first act upon entering was to visit the chapel, specially decorated with flowers and flags for the occasion. Some 200 people filled the small space: elderly residents in wheelchairs and walking frames seated in the front rows, and the sisters and staff who care for them day after day.
A women’s choir formed by immigrants from Congo, Angola, Cameroon, and Burkina Faso welcomed him with tender renditions of Ave Maria and Laudate Dominum as he processed down the aisle, pausing frequently to grasp outstretched hands, exchange quiet words, and pose for photographs.
After kneeling briefly in silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Father listened as Sister Margaret Searson, a London-born nun who arrived at the home only a month ago, addressed him on behalf of the community. She expressed gratitude for his presence, telling him that the visit would reassure every resident “that God loves them immensely.”
In his response, Pope Leo XIV reflected on the very name of the congregation that runs the home.
“The Lord has called you not only to assist or help the poor,” he told the sisters, “but to be their sisters!” The distinction, he explained, reveals the heart of authentic Christian charity: “Before being for others, we must first be with others in a communion based on fraternity.”
Turning to the elderly residents themselves, the Pope issued a gentle rebuke to a culture that often measures human worth by productivity and material achievement. In such a world, he said, “the true meaning of old age risks being forgotten.” Yet the elderly remain, as his predecessor Pope Francis frequently taught, “the wisdom of a people, a treasure for their grandchildren, families and society as a whole.”
He concluded with a “double thank-you”: one to the home for welcoming the elderly “in the name of fraternity,” and another in recognition that such care “is not easy and requires a lot of patience and prayer.”
After leading the community in prayer and imparting his apostolic blessing, the Pope presented a commemorative gift. Before leaving, he lingered in the corridors, speaking with sisters and greeting residents and staff individually. In the guest book he left a handwritten message: “I warmly bless this home with all its residents, and in a special way the Little Sisters of the Poor for their service here and their witness to all.”
The brief but moving encounter underscored the Pope’s recurring theme that true fraternity is lived not in grand gestures but in the patient, daily accompaniment of the most vulnerable—especially the elderly whom society too often forgets.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Vatican News
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