Charity Without Conversion: Modernist Distortion of Almsgiving in Vatican’s Poverty Spectacle
VaticanNews portal (November 16, 2025) reports on the Ninth World Day of the Poor, where antipope Leo XIV shared lunch with 1,300 guests in the Paul VI Hall. The event featured vegetable lasagna, cutlets, Neapolitan fruit, and babà dessert, with Vincentian volunteers distributing personal-care kits containing panettone. Attendees included displaced persons from Nigeria, Ukraine, Cuba, Barcelona, and Rome, with anecdotes about unemployment, disability, and war trauma. The antipope thanked his predecessor “Pope Francis” and urged guests to take home fruit baskets, framing the meal as “fraternity” while recalling those suffering from “violence, war, and hunger.” The gathering notably included non-Catholics and made no distinction between baptized believers and unbelievers.









