“We need a culture of care” – Il Tempo

The Jubilee of the Poor, one of the most anticipated major events in the Holy Year calendar, concluded yesterday with lunch in the Hall of Paul VI with Leo XIV. But the most interesting thing is the mass celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica. Before celebrating, the Pope wanted to greet the faithful present in the square, reminding them that “we all want to be among God’s poor, because our life is a gift from God and we receive it with great gratitude”. Poverty is a theme very close to the new Pope’s heart, to the point that he dedicated the first apostolic exhortation of his pontificate, “Dilexi te” to which his predecessor, Pope Francis, intended to publish it. Quoting the document, Leo

The papal warning focuses not only on material poverty but also on “many moral and spiritual situations, which often concern especially young people” and which have similarities to loneliness. Prevost therefore calls for a “culture of attention” to be developed “precisely to break down the walls of solitude.” Leone’s call was not directed only at Christians, but more generally he invited “heads of state and leaders of nations to listen to the call of the poorest people”. According to Leone, migration is proof of how “there can be no peace without justice” while the “myth of prosperity and progress” ends up suffocating the cries of the poor in our society. The homily confirmed Prevost’s Christological approach to a theme that often, even within the Church, tends to be expressed in sociological terms. Evidence of this is in the passage where he says that “the question of the poor brings us back to the heart of our faith” because for Christians they “are the flesh of Christ and not just a sociological category”.

Finally, Pope Francis invited the faithful to be “inspired by the witness of the saints who served Christ among the most needy in society and to follow Him on the path of smallness and need.” The example he cites is Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, a “tramp” saint who distributed the alms he received to other beggars and died at the age of 35 in Rome. His relics were kept in the parish of Santa Maria ai Monti and temporarily moved to St. Peter’s Basilica. Leo Thousands of needy people, served by Vincentian volunteers, ate at tables in the Nervi Hall. A group of lucky people ate lunch at the Holy Father’s table, sitting next to his trusted secretary, Don Edgard Rimaycuna. The menu includes vegetable lasagna, cutlets with vegetables, and babà. In his remarks, Prevost wanted to remember his predecessor Francesco who was the creator of the initiative and asked those present to applaud loudly in his honor. Leo did not forget the Pope who chose his name as a tribute to the poor.