Vatican City, 12 November, 2024 / 1:25 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis will have lunch on Sunday, Nov. 17, at the Vatican with 1,300 people “who hold a privileged place in God’s heart” as part of celebrations to mark the eighth World Day of the Poor.
This year’s lunch, organized by the Dicastery for the Service of Charity in collaboration with the Italian Red Cross, will be held inside the Paul VI Hall as a sign of the Holy Father’s desire to be close with “those who are most in need: the poor, the marginalized, the suffering, and the forgotten.”
In anticipation of the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, Pope Francis’ message for the eighth World Day of the Poor stressed the importance for the Catholic faithful to be aware of the presence and needs of the “poor whom we encounter daily.”
“As we journey toward the holy year, I urge everyone to become pilgrims of hope, setting tangible goals for a better future. Let us not forget to keep ‘the little details of love’ (Gaudete et Exsultate, 145): stopping, drawing near, giving a little attention, a smile, a caress, a word of comfort,” he wrote.
Since establishing the World Day of the Poor in 2016, which is celebrated each year one week before the solemn feast of Christ the King, the pope has held the annual tradition of welcoming Rome’s poor into the Vatican to dine with him and be served lunch.
