II World Day of Poor

“This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him” (Psalm 34:7)

The II World Day of the Poor, established by Pope Francis in 2016 at the end of the Jubilee of Mercy, is celebrated this year on Sunday 18 November. 

In his Message for the Day, the Pope highlights in particular three verbs that characterize the attitude of the poor and his relationship with God: to cry, to answer and to free. 

The Pope also invites Dioceses and Christian communities to give substance to the words of the Psalm: “The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied” (Ps 22:27) and reminds us that true charity is always an encounter, made of reciprocity, of giving something and receiving something else in the name of the Gospel:

“The poor evangelize us and help us each day to discover the beauty of the Gospel. On this day, may all of us feel that we are in debt to the poor, because, in hands outstretched to one another, a salvific encounter can take place to strengthen our faith, inspire our charity and enable our hope to advance securely on our path towards the Lord who is to come”.