Pope Leo XIV shared an emotional reunion this week with Ignacio Gonzálvez, the Spanish teenager from Cartagena whose aggressive lymphoma diagnosis during last summer’s Youth Jubilee prompted prayers across Spain and the Vatican.
As reported in an article published by COPE, the meeting took place outside Villa Barberini in Castel Gandolfo, where the Pope greeted Ignacio and his family as the Holy Father left after his weekly day of rest. The teenager, who had spent months undergoing treatment after being hospitalized in Rome, embraced the Pope and shared the news of his recovery.
“I told him I’m cured, thank God I’m well, and I’m waiting for him in Madrid,” Ignacio said afterward, according to COPE, and as can be seen in the video.
If the video does not appear on your screen below, watch here.
The story caught the world's attention during the Youth Jubilee in Rome last summer, when Ignacio traveled to Italy with other young Spanish pilgrims. During the trip, he developed serious respiratory symptoms and was admitted to Rome’s Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital.
Doctors diagnosed him with an aggressive lymphoma. His condition caused concern among relatives, friends, and fellow pilgrims following updates from Spain. The Vatican also closely followed the teenager’s condition, and the Pope publicly asked for prayers for him at the time, during his vigil with the young people.
One of the most widely noted moments during Ignacio’s hospitalization came when the Pontiff personally visited him at Bambino Gesù. The gesture drew attention among Catholics in Spain and Italy as a sign of pastoral closeness toward young people facing illness and suffering.
COPE also reported that Ignacio’s mother, Carmen Gloria Gonzálvez, described the family’s experience as one sustained by faith throughout the medical ordeal. Over the following months, Ignacio continued treatment until doctors confirmed that the lymphoma had disappeared.
During Tuesday’s encounter in Castel Gandolfo, Ignacio told the Pope that his recovery continues to progress positively and that “everything is going well” now that treatment has ended.
The reunion concluded with another embrace between the Pope and the teenager, bringing a hopeful close to a story that began during the Jubilee under dramatic circumstances and ended with news of recovery.
