One evening, while visiting my closest friend from undergrad at Fordham University, she answered a phone call from a ‘friend.’ The caller was a homeless man, friend of Sant’Egidio, whom she meets each Tuesday. He calls her often, and she always answers. Sharing her phone number with him deviated from the protocol, but keeping in touch throughout the week was more important to her. I thought that Pope Francis would have commended her commitment to accompaniment. I certainly wa

One crisp April evening earlier this year, at the usual Sant’Egidio round of friendship at Westminster Cathedral, our group met a woman with a three-year-old daughter. She was an Eritrean refugee recently arrived in London with nowhere to stay and no one to turn to. Let’s call her Victoria and her daughter Faith for anonymity. Victoria spoke very little English, just enough to communicate the precariousness of her situation. Faith was a genuine bundle of joy. She was laughing

The Vagrancy Act, a law that for nearly two hundred years made it a criminal offence simply to sleep rough or to beg, was repealed. We are thrilled.

When we read the BBC’s recent article citing the latest number of death amongst homeless people, our hearts are moved.

In early 2015, in a church in West London, around a dozen people gathered on a Saturday afternoon over tea and cakes. They belonged to...

'Unreal City', the twentieth century Anglo-Catholic poet T S Eliot repeatedly calls London in The Waste Land. It is a mood I kept coming...

When the numbers of friends in need visiting one of Sant’Egidio’s weekly Solidarity Markets increased, it was time to partner up.

How do you deliver food support when your shelter space is closed by a pandemic? Three months ago, the Corona virus (Covid-19) changed...

Are the things that are most valuable the ones that are most expensive? Discovering the power, value and freedom of friendship.

In a corner just a few steps away from a London tube station, surrounded by tons of newspapers he likes to read, with half his life in two s

Living in London as an elderly person can have many positive aspects, but it can also be a very lonely time. At Sant'Egidio, we bridge g

Whilst looking for a volunteer opportunity in London to help the homeless, I came across the Community of Sant'Egidio. Nothing could pre

What are 5 simple actions to take to give a personal answer to the issue of loneliness in London?