“How I would like a Church which is poor and for the poor!” This is one of the first statements made by Pope Francis after his election as Successor of Peter. Throughout these months of his pontificate, the Holy Father has emphasised the need for us to listen to the cry of the poor. In this regard he wrote in Evangelii Gaudium: “Each individual Christian and every community is called to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor [...]. This demands that we be docile and attentive to the cry of the poor and to come to their aid” (no.187). Earlier in the document he said that “there is an inseparable bond between our faith and the poor” (no.48). The Pope tells us to meditate often on chapter 25 of Matthew’s Gospel in which Christ, when speaking of the last judgement, says: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me [...]. Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:35-36,40). It is through the poor and needy that we touch the suffering Body of Christ himself. The Holy Father said: “Every day we are all called to become a ‘caress of God’ for those who perhaps have forgotten their first caresses, or perhaps who never have felt a caress in their life” (To the members of the Circle of St Peter, 31 October 2013).

In a culture like ours that often despises the poor and excluded, these words serve as a warning and as a challenge. So many times during the day we pass the poor and needy on the streets who hold out their hands and ask for help. We look at them, perhaps we keep a certain distance, we might hurriedly give them a few coins, maybe without looking them in the eyes and exchanging glances... Pope Francis is asking us not to be fearful and prejudiced, but to remove every barrier that separates us from the poor. He is encouraging us to go out to meet them, to see them as our brothers and sisters who are reaching out for help, and to share their sorrows and anxieties. We have to learn to meet the poor. The Pope said: “What is important, however, is not to see or help them from a distance. No, No! It is to go and meet them. This is Christian! It is what Jesus teaches us [...]. We must build, create, construct a culture of encounter” (Message to the faithful of Buenos Aires, 7 August 2013).