Marta Torres is 78 years old and her deep blue eyes seem to pierce through whoever listens to her. She moves about in a wheelchair and due to her physical limitations, she is always looking upward.
Pope Leo XIV was visibly moved when speaking to her during his Nov. 9 visit to the Little Cottolengo Don Orione of Claypole in Buenos Aires, where she has lived for years.
Born blind and with cerebral palsy, she was abandoned by her mother when she was still a child, just a day before celebrating her birthday. “She left my house and never came back,” she told Leo XIV, who listened to her with the tenderness of a father.
Her illness turned her life into an uphill, difficult path, she said. For decades, she spent hours bedridden in a hospital, while unsuccessfully seeking a place where she could live on a permanent basis and receive the care she needed.
“I went around to many places in order to find a place to live, but those places were temporary and not suitable for me,” she explained.
That long search came to an end when she discovered the Little Cottolengo Don Orione of Claypole, an institution founded by St. Louis Orione that welcomes people with disabilities and in vulnerable situations.
“For me it was a beacon of light that illuminated my life. Not just a place to live, but a place where I was received, given a home, and loved,” Torres recounted. The pope listened with all his heart to every one of her words.
This center in Buenos Aires, where Torres lives along with 410 other people with different disabilities, is a community that she said welcomed her unconditionally.
“They helped me not feel rejected, because after so much going around and finding nothing, I felt rejected. But here I feel so happy that everything is behind me,” she shared.
Discovering faith
During her testimony, Torres highlighted that one of the greatest graces received at the Cottolengo was faith in Jesus Christ, which she said became an anchor to hold on to when facing her disability: “I came to know God deeply through the people who accompanied me in prayer,” she said. With the desire to help others going through similar situations, Torres decided to write a book in which she recounts her personal experience.
After she finished sharing her testimony, she gave a copy of her book to the pope as a sign of gratitude and as a way to give a voice to those whose life situation is similar to hers.
“I wish my story to be known and heard, because I want to do good. I want it to be able to serve other people who live in a similar situation, so that they would know they are not alone, that they have the right to be welcomed, loved, and respected,” she said before personally handing the book to the Holy Father.
As she carefully placed it in the popeʼs hands, she said to him: “This book is part of my life. I give it to you in thanksgiving to God for having given me so many things. Many crosses, yes, but also many gifts.”
This story was first published by EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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