Pope to Governments: "Listen to the Cry of the Poor"

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV marked the World Day of the Poor by sharing a lunch with 1,300 individuals who struggle to secure the necessities for a dignified life. On this occasion, he also wished to remember and applaud Pope Francis for initiating these observances, a legacy of Jorge Bergoglio that the entire Church now upholds, emphasizing the centrality of the poor and the necessity of serving them.

The morning began with a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, which proved too small to accommodate the thousands of people present. In a change of schedule, before the celebration, Leo XIV went to St. Peter's Square to greet those who had been left outside and invite them to follow the Mass on the large screens.

During his homily, the Pontiff addressed world leaders directly, urging them to "listen to the cry of the poor."
Subsequently, Robert Prevost underscored that subtle erosion, the loneliness, which is at the root of all forms of poverty.

"How many poverties oppress our world! These are first and foremost material poverties, but there are also many moral and spiritual situations that often affect, above all, the young," indicated Leo XIV. "And the drama that runs through them all is solitude."

"Today, above all the scenarios of war, unfortunately present in various regions of the world, seem to confirm us in a state of powerlessness. But the globalization of powerlessness is born from a lie," continued Prevost, "from believing that history has always been this way and cannot change. The Gospel, on the other hand, tells us that precisely in the convulsive moments of history, the Lord comes to save us. And we, as a Christian community, must be today, in the midst of the poor, a living sign of that salvation."

The Pontiff emphasized that "poverty challenges Christians, but it also challenges all those who have roles of responsibility in society. Therefore, I exhort the Heads of State and the Leaders of Nations to listen to the cry of the poorest. There can be no peace without justice, and the poor remind us of this in many ways, with their migrating as well as with their cry, often stifled by the myth of well-being and progress that does not include everyone, and which, in fact, forgets many creatures, leaving them to their fate."

To conclude the day, a lunch was organized in the Nervi Hall, thanks to organizations that daily stand beside the poor, from the Vincentians to Caritas, from the Community of Sant'Egidio to the French association Fratello. The latter organized a lunch in the Vatican Gardens, which Pope Leo XIV unexpectedly visited to greet and bless the attendees.