‘Charity is evangelization’: How a priest helped revive a Lisbon neighborhood

Police once feared to enter Serafina. Now its residents are preparing for a visit from Pope Francis.

One of Lisbon’s most notable landmarks is the enormous 18th-century Águas Livres Aqueduct, which was built to provide the population with drinking water. Its stone arches dominate a large part of the city, like the legs of a giant beast.

Fr. Francisco Crespo sits beneath a photograph of himself hugging his father at his office in Lisbon’s Serafina neighb…