
At the end of the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis initiated the World Day of the Poor. The theme for this first year is Let us love, not with words but with deeds (1 Jn 3:18). Let us take his advice, open our hearts and share “with the poor through concrete signs of solidarity and fraternity…At the heart of all the many concrete initiatives carried out on this day should always be prayer…This new World Day, therefore, should become a powerful appeal to our consciences as believers, allowing us to grow in the conviction that sharing with the poor enables us to understand the deepest truth of the Gospel. The poor are not a problem: they are a resource from which to draw as we strive to accept and practise in our lives the essence of the Gospel.”