Before the World’s Poor Day, Pope Francis met 500 poor people from all over Europe in Assisi: May God help us turn weakness into strength, poverty into prosperity, share with each other, and make the world a better place.
(Vatican News Network)Women are treated as commodities, children are reduced to slaves, families endure social inequality, many people lose their jobs, and those who only seek to get rich are hypocritical. Pope Francis unveiled this scar in the world today in the Basilica behind the Angels of Assisi in Italy on November 12th. In the past, Saint Francis accepted Christ’s entrustment to “build his home,” which is now the Baozun Hall in the main hall behind the angels; now Pope Francis urges the world to take action in front of the Baozun Hall to “repair” the many poor people. life. In an era of division and despair, the poor struggled to fight poverty in all its forms.
The activities in the morning were witnessed by many poor people. The poor people on the stage bravely shared their experiences, sometimes choked with words; the poor people sitting on the stage closed their eyes and listened, and some couldn’t help sobbing. The pope’s speech started with the testimony of the poor, saying: “I thank you for your invitation. I was invited to participate in World Poor People’s Day. This idea originated from you and gradually took shape, and now it’s the fifth edition. Thanks to God for the idea of World Poor People’s Day. Its origin is unusual, and it comes from a ceremonial room: I was preparing for mass, and there was one of you named Stephen. He suggested to me: “We will do World Poor People’s Day!” When I walked out of the sacrificial clothing room, I heard the Holy Spirit say that I should do this. This is how things started, starting from the courage of one of you.”
The Pope expressed his gratitude to all the service personnel of this World Poor People’s Day, and he also thanked Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the retired Archbishop of Lyon who was present. The French cardinal was once accused of sheltering violations. After several years of litigation, he was finally released without charge. Card Barbaran accompanied the poor in France to Assisi on the same day. The pope stared at the cardinal and said: “He is in the ranks of the poor. He has also encountered poverty in terms of dignity. Abandoned and lost trust, and he defends himself with silence and prayer. Thank you Cardinal Barbaran for his Witnesses help build the church.”
In addition to talking to the poor, the Pope also appealed to those with political and social responsibilities: “Now is the time to open your eyes to see the inequality suffered by many families. Now it’s time to roll up your sleeves. Create jobs and restore dignity. At this moment we should fall again before the current situation of many children, who are starving, becoming slaves, shaking at sea due to shipwreck, and becoming innocent victims of all kinds of violence At this moment, violence against women should be stopped, and women should be respected and not treated as commodities. Now we must break the vicious circle of indifference and rediscover the beauty of encounters and dialogues.”
Meeting each other means walking towards others, opening your heart, and extending the hand of friendship. The Pope said, “Each of us needs others. Even if we are weak, as long as we get through together, the weakness will become a force that makes the world a better place.” The poor are often treated impatiently, which is a greater humiliation. “We often hear people say that it is the poor who should be responsible for poverty! Those who say this have not done a series of conscience examinations at all, have not thought about their actions, the unfairness of certain legal and economic measures, and How hypocritical are those who only want to get rich and shirk the blame on the weakest.”
Standing in the sacred place of Saint Francis hundreds of years ago, the Pope appealed to everyone to beg God to “listen to our cry and come to rescue us quickly” because “the rejection suffered by the poor first occurred on the spiritual level.” The Pope commended many young people for taking time generously to help the poor by bringing them food and hot drinks. The Pope was also very happy to hear that “these volunteers stopped a little bit to talk with people, sometimes praying with them.” These are acts of acceptance, “the spirit of the gospel that we are called to express.”
Acceptance stimulates a sense of community, and rejection encourages selfishness. The Pope pointed out that the testimony of the day’s event was filled with “great hope”. “Life often doesn’t treat you kindly, but often shows you a cruel side. Repulsion, illness, loneliness, and lack of many necessities of life, but all this does not prevent you from looking at the things that allow you to persevere with gratitude. Little things”.
The Pope explained that “the meaning of tenacious persistence is to have the power to move forward anyway.” This “is not to be negative”; on the contrary, it means “to find the indomitable motivation before the difficulties, knowing that we are not alone, but to live together. Only by working together can we overcome difficulties.” Therefore, we should not fall into the temptation of giving up, loneliness and sorrow, but we should pray to God to help us “turn weakness into strength” and “turn poverty into prosperity, share with each other, and make the world a better place.”
The Pope finally thanked everyone present, especially Stephen, who inspired World Poor People’s Day. The Pope said to Stephen: “You have obeyed the Holy Spirit. Thank you for stubbornly bringing the Pope to Assisi.” The Pope assured the poor: “I care about you. Please don’t forget to pray for me. Because I also have my deficiencies, and many.”
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