![\"Pope](\"https:\/\/www.vaticannews.va\/content\/dam\/vaticannews\/agenzie\/images\/srv\/2025\/12\/29\/2025-12-29-pellegrini-della-parrocchia-santo-tomas-de-villanueva\/1767002526644.JPG\/_jcr_content\/renditions\/cq5dam.thumbnail.cropped.750.422.jpeg\" "\\"Pope")
<\/p>\nPope Leo XIV encourages pilgrims from a parish in Spain to follow the witness of their namesake, St. Thomas of Villanova, in his love for the poor, profound interior life, tireless work, and apostolic zeal.<\/p>\n
By Kielce Gussie<\/b><\/p>\n
Speaking to a group of Spanish pilgrims from the Parish of Santo Tom\u00e1s de Villanueva (St. Thomas of Villanova), Pope Leo XIV expressed his joy at meeting them during the Octave of Christmas.<\/p>\n
The pilgrims travelled around 1,900km (about 1,180 miles) from the city of Alcal\u00e1 de Henares, Spain, on pilgrimage to Rome, and the Pope shared his gratitude for their support of \u201cthe Successor of Peter with your prayers and generosity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the namesake of their parish, Pope Leo explained that St. Thomas of Villanova \u201cwas open to God\u2019s action in his life,\u201d saying this made it possible for him \u201cto do much good for the Church and for the society of his time.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Pope Leo greets a bishop during the audience with pilgrims from Spain \u00a0 (@Vatican Media)\n <\/p>\n
He highlighted how the city of Alcal\u00e1 de Henares works to preserve the life and legacy of the Spanish Augustinian saint. The Pope then touched on some of the distinctive characteristics of St. Thomas.<\/p>\n
A legacy that lives on<\/b> <\/p>\n
The saint’s life and writings showcase \u201can unceasing pursuit of continual prayer\u2014that is, a holy restlessness to remain in God\u2019s presence at every moment.\u201d This, Pope Leo pointed out, revealed St. Thomas\u2019 profound interior life, which enabled him to hear God\u2019s word.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the Augustinian bishop was renowned for his tireless work, which the Pope explained is an aspect that \u201cchallenges us in a world that seems to offer everything more and more quickly and easily.\u201d<\/p>\n
St. Thomas\u2019 selfless labor, simplicity, sobriety, and apostolic zeal can help everyone recognize the gifts and talents they have received from God and remind them of the call to use these gifts to serve the community.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.vaticannews.va\/content\/dam\/vaticannews\/agenzie\/images\/srv\/2025\/12\/29\/2025-12-29-pellegrini-della-parrocchia-santo-tomas-de-villanueva\/1767002511995.JPG\/_jcr_content\/renditions\/cq5dam.thumbnail.cropped.750.422.jpeg\" "\\"The")
<\/p>\n
\n The Pope blesses two of the pilgrims who have come from the city of Alcal\u00e1 de Henares, Spain \u00a0 (@VATICAN MEDIA)\n <\/p>\n
Finally, Pope Leo reflected on how the Spanish saint\u2019s love for the poor earned him the title \u201cthe almoner of God.\u201d This characteristic, the Pope explained, is very present in the parish life of the pilgrims from Alcal\u00e1 de Henares through their works and gestures\u2014for which he expressed his gratitude.<\/p>\n
Closing the private audience, Pope Leo encouraged the pilgrim group on their journey, following in the footsteps of Christ, and urged them to use the example of the saints to inspire them. He invoked a blessing on them: \u201cMay God bless you, and may Our Lady of the Val always accompany you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pope Leo XIV encourages pilgrims from a parish in Spain to follow the witness of their namesake, St.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":480682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[50,217809,3417,217808,128,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-480681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-pilgrimage","10":"tag-pope-leo-xiv","11":"tag-saints-and-blessed","12":"tag-spain","13":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115810133926907674","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}