Sant'Egidio community's Christmas lunch gathers 2,500 people across Catalonia

The traditional Christmas lunch prepared by the lay Catholic association of Sant'Egidio gathered around 2,500 people across Catalonia on Christmas Day.

Around 1,500 homeless people, older people, or refugees gathered at the Basilica of Sants Màrtirs Just i Pastor and at eight other sites across Barcelona.

Organizers also prepared lunches in Tarragona, Manresa, and Gavà, which together saw 1,000 more people, as reported by the association to the Catalan News Agency (ACN).

There was a "family-style" lunch with the "friends made during the day," so, as organizers said, "no one feels left alone."

In the last few days, the association has cared for around 5,000 people through various activities, including meals, gifts, and celebrations.

In Barcelona, mayor Jaume Collboni praised the "value of friendship and love that takes over to build a city at a human level, so the city belongs to us."

Accompanied by Barcelona's Cardinal Joan Josep Omella, both said that these events "bring together people with different backgrounds, different religions, different cultures, and different social statuses."

The Christmas lunch organized by the Sant'Egidio community first took place on December 25, 1982 at Rome's Santa Maria in Trastevere Basilica. Back then, 47 people took part, among them 22 of them poor, as the organization said.

In 2024, the association brought together 250,000 people across 70 countries in all continents.