Pope offers hope to poor in public outing

ASSISI, Italy – Pope Francis traveled to the hilltop town of his namesake for the fifth time in his pontificate on Friday to honor the poorest and most marginal and urge that they be welcomed and cared for by the church.

In one of his first outings in Italy since the pandemic began, Francis took his time greeting schoolchildren and some of the 500 people brought by Catholic charity groups to Assisi to join Francis in marking the Catholic Church’s world day of the poor.

A refugee gave Francis a pilgrim’s walking stick and cloak outside the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels, which hosts the famed Porziuncola chapel, birthplace of the Franciscan order of the pope’s namesake, St. Francis of Assisi.

Francis greeted children with disabilities in the basilica and prayed in the chapel before hearing from a handful of people who offered heartwrenching testimony about their lives.

One former Spanish drug dealer recounted how he turned his life around after a priest smiled on him and offered him shelter. A Romanian woman wept as she told Francis that she suffers such chronic pain that she cannot work. Two Afghans recounted how they recently fled to Italy after the Taliban takeover of their country, only to feel their souls are still there.

Those offering their testimony choked up and wept openly as they spoke to the pope, who thanked them for their courage in telling their stories.

“The presence of the poor is often seen as an annoyance and is put up with,” Francis said from the altar. “Sometimes we hear it said that those responsible for poverty are the poor! So as not to carry out a serious examination of conscience on one’s own actions, on the injustice of certain laws and economic measures, on the hypocrisy of those who want to enrich themselves excessively, blame is laid at the feet of those who are weakest.”

He said the faithful could learn from the example of Francis. “Hospitality means opening the door, the door of our house and the door of our heart, and to allow the person who knocks to come in,” Francis said. “And that they might feel welcome, not ashamed.”

RICCARDO DE LUCA/AP Pope Francis greets Abdul Razaq Quadery, left, and his wife, Salima, refugees from Afghanistan, inside the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Assisi, central Italy, Friday.