Gordon, the Archbishop of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, said, "Find someone you know, reach out to one poor person. Not just to give money, but stop, speak, ask questions," Gordon said.

"One thing the poor do not have an opportunity to do is to tell their story with dignity."

The World Day of the Poor was instituted in 2016 by Pope Francis, this year it fell on Nov. 15.

The 2020 theme is 'Stretch forth your hands to the poor.'

Gordon said, "Stretching forth our hands to the poor, is stretching forth the hands of love, the hands of mercy, the hands that will help."

"Stretching forth the hands will demonstrate our own commitment. We recognise, as Pope Francis says, that we are brothers and sisters. By stretching forth our hands, we join in a common humanity."

"When we meet and encounter the poor, it asks about our indifference and how we are responding to the poor. So often, we don't build social relations with those who are poor and marginalised."

Gordon said poverty does not only relate to the lack of money. It also relates to the lack of participation and lack of dignity. It means some children do not have the same opportunity for education as other children.

Pope Francis celebrated Mass in St. Peter's Basilica to mark the World Day of the Poor. He urged Christians to spend their lives in prayer, charity, and witness to the Gospel on behalf of those in need.

Pope Francis recalled an Italian priest who was killed two months ago while serving the poor.

Fr. Roberto Malgesini was murdered at his parish of Saint Roch (Rocco) in the Italian city of Como.

"This priest was not interested in theories," said Pope Francis. "He simply saw Jesus in the poor and found meaning in life in serving them. He dried their tears with his gentleness, in the name of God who consoles."

The Pope concluded his homily holding up Fr. Roberto as an example of a faithful servant whose life was centred on the poor.

Sources

• Newsday
• Vatican News

Father Roberto Malgesini, 51, who cared for immigrants and other needy people in the northern city of Como, had been stabbed to death.

A Tunisian immigrant, who police said was mentally ill, turned himself in to authorities.

The man was known to Malgesini, who had let him sleep in a room for the homeless run by the parish.

The morning Malgesini was killed, he was expected at a breakfast for the homeless.

In 2019, he was fined by local police for feeding people living under the portico of a former church.

A diocesan statement said "in the face of this tragedy, the Church of Como is clinging to prayer for its priest Fr. Roberto and for the person who struck him to death."

The local newspaper quoted a volunteer who worked with Malgesini, as saying "he was a person who lived the Gospel daily, in every moment of the day. An exceptional expression of our community."

Fr. Andrea Messaggi said: "Roberto was a simple person. He just wanted to be a priest and years ago he made this wish explicit to the former bishop of Como."

"For this he was sent to St. Rocco, where every morning he brought hot breakfasts to the least of us. Here everyone knew him, they all loved him."

Roberto Bernasconi, director of the diocesan branch of Caritas, says Malgesini was "a meek person."

"He devoted his whole life to the least, he was aware of the risks he ran," Bernasconi said.

"The city and the world did not understand his mission."

Pope Francis on Wednesday also paid tribute to the priest.

Speaking at the end of his weekly general audience, Francis said Malgesini was killed "by a needy person who he was helping, a person who was mentally ill".

Francis praised the "martyrdom of this witness of charity towards the most poor (and) all the priests, nuns, laymen and laywomen who work with needy people who are discarded by society."

He then asked the audience of about 500 people in a Vatican courtyard to observe a minute of silent prayer for Malgesini.

Meanwhile, a far-right politician Matteo Salvini called for a "vendetta."

Source

• Reuters
• Catholic World Report
• Image: Stand for Christians - S4C News