Alongside the general audience, about twenty Italian Martial Arts Therapists from the international association Kids Kicking Cancer, led by president Giancarlo Bagnulo, presented Pope Leo XIV with the "Circle of Heroes," an imaginary place where children with cancer and serious chronic illnesses learn to manage pain, suffering and fear through the philosophy and breathing techniques of the martial arts. The group gave the Pontiff a black belt embroidered with "Leo XIV," a scroll listing the pediatric oncology wards of the sixteen Italian hospitals involved — including Bambino Gesù and Gemelli in Rome — and about thirty letters written by the young patients. At the end of the audience the Pope also greeted a large group of children and disabled young people from Ukraine, guests of the House of Mercy in Buchach on holiday in Nocera Superiore, the friends of Dea Mastronardi (active in youth-distress prevention), and the Maltese altar servers on summer duty in St. Peter's Basilica, a tradition renewed since 1965.