The Pope's international charity: A helping hand to the world's suffering

"Charity cannot be delayed," Pope Leo XIV said on 6 June, the first day of his apostolic journey to Spain, as he addressed staff and beneficiaries of the Cedia 24 Horas social project in Madrid.

Those words have not remained merely words—they have taken on human faces. The face of a mother and her daughter holding a packet of biscuits and a bag of pasta in their small bedroom, surrounded by a teddy bear and a drawing of an Orthodox cathedral pinned to the wall. It takes on the image of food, medicine and humanitarian assistance that the Pope, through the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, sends to people suffering across the world.

"Solidarity knows no borders and is not constrained by nationalism," the Pope's Almoner, Augustinian Archbishop Luis Marín de San Martín, told Vatican News. "It must reach wherever there is suffering and urgent need. That is why we ensure it is swift, practical and well coordinated, with particular attention to the poorest, so that they may experience the Holy Father's closeness and tenderness—as the Church's loving embrace, accompanying and sustaining them."

The humanitarian assistance sent through the Dicastery has continuously supported the people of war-torn Ukraine since the outbreak of the conflict, as well as those in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

Building on years of constant solidarity while responding promptly whenever cries for help arise, Pope Leo has continued to extend comfort across every continent. His charitable outreach follows the geography of suffering—from Europe and the Middle East to Asia, Africa and the Americas—with an unwavering commitment and without distinction. It is a map marked by earthquakes and cyclones, droughts and floods, but also by everyday violence, abandoned children and families struggling simply to find enough food.