Now I've read the post 😆 and writing another comment:

the term "stray cat" is somewhat relative.

That's how the world lives - at least, what I saw. Many Westerners call each cat they see on a street in Asia or Eastern Europe "a stray" or even "a feral" while in most cases they see an owned cat exploring the outdoors. Many cats, who actually don't have an owner, have humans who care about them in one or another way - so-called community cats. But that's not the end of the story: there are wat cats living in Buddhist temples, mosque and church cats who are owned by a temple... but as you understand a temple can own nothing so there is a person or two or three in that temple who....... So, the world of cats is much more complicated than you can think at first sight. Like, some cats are owned and have a home but get so little food or/and love that they have to steal from trash bins of neighbors. That's why I like this term - street cats. Street cats are just cats on the streets, don't hurry to make a conclusion about them.

they still seek to be close to us and generate empathy as soon as they connect their gaze with ours

This is so true. One of the big reasons why I love cats so much - they connect to your soul through gaze, and they search for mutual respect and harmony.