Pope Leo visits gravely ill Spanish boy in Rome hospital
Niwa Limbu• August 6, 2025
Pope Leo XIV paid an unannounced visit to the intensive care unit of the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Rome to pray with the family of Ignacio Gonzálvez, a 15-year-old boy, who remains in critical condition after suffering complications from lymphoma.
Ignacio had come from Murcia, Spain, to Rome with his Neocatechumenal Way community to take part in the Jubilee of Youth, but was urgently admitted to hospital after collapsing unexpectedly. He is currently in an induced coma and dependent on respiratory support.
The Pope’s visit on 4 August followed his public appeal at the end of the Jubilee of Youth vigil Mass in the Tor Vergata district of Rome on 3 August, when he asked the tens of thousands of young people present to pray for Ignacio.
The boy’s parents, Pedro Pablo and Carmen Gloria, along with his siblings Pedro Pablo Jr. and Adela, have kept a constant vigil at his bedside. They told Vatican News Italia they had been praying "day and night" for a miracle.
Pope Leo spent about thirty minutes with the family, joining them in reciting the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be, and offering them his apostolic blessing. He then spoke to them about the Gospel, the mystery of God’s will and the Christian hope of eternal life.
“He told us that the important thing is to do God’s will, that our true place is eternal life in heaven,” Pedro Pablo said in a phone call with Vatican News Italia. “This comforted us, because we are people who try to live our faith and know it is the truth. And in times when one is suffering so deeply, hearing the Pope come and give you a word like that is … the best thing that could have happened to us.”
Ignacio’s sister, Adela, described Pope Leo as “a simple man” and said his presence was a great consolation. Carmen Gloria told Vatican News Italia that the Pope had said, “If Ignacio came all the way to Rome, I can come all the way to the hospital to see him.”
She added, “They were simple words, but full of affection.” She went on to say: “The Pope told us that this is a mystery and that despite many things we don't understand, we know that God is there and wants the best for everyone.
"As a mother, I saw Jesus Christ come to me and tell me, ‘You are not alone.’ That’s what the Pope’s presence meant to me: confirmation that God has not abandoned us.”
Following his visit to Ignacio’s family, the Holy Father continued on to the oncology ward, where he greeted children receiving cancer treatment and spoke with medical staff. The visit was not announced in advance and was described by Vatican officials as a personal gesture of mercy and closeness to the sick.
Ignacio’s sudden deterioration came without warning. According to Vatican News Italia, he had been exercising at home and only had a slight cough. Within hours, though, he collapsed from what doctors later identified as a severe respiratory crisis linked to a hidden lymphoma.
Doctors reportedly told the family that if they had admitted Ignacio just a few hours later, “he would not have survived".
The Neocatechumenal Way, of which the Gonzálvez family are members, is an international ecclesial movement focused on post-baptismal Christian formation and evangelisation.
The Jubilee of Youth forms part of the wider 2025 Jubilee Year celebrations, during which Pope Leo XIV has called on the faithful to deepen their life of prayer, rediscover God’s mercy and accompany those who suffer.
The Pope's Mass in Tor Vergata marked the culmination of a youth pilgrimage that has drawn tens of thousands of young Catholics – with some estimates of numbers exceeding 100,000 – from across the world. Photo: Pope Leo XIV arrives before leading a Mass in the Tor Vergata district of Rome, as part of Jubilee of Youth, 3 August 2025. (Photo by FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images.)