People who lack wealth and who live on the margins of society are celebrated by the Catholic Church and by many Catholics who live far above the poverty line. One wonders if nobody is poor, who (or what) will the Catholic Church focus on and glorify, God, or maybe Mother Earth and the environment?
On 15 November 2019, Vatican News reported as follows, quoted in part [1]:
Marking the 3rd World Day of the Poor on 17 November 2019, the Fratello association has invited believers to spend four days in Lourdes with socially excluded people.
In a video-message to those gathered in Lourdes for the event, the Pope reminds those who suffer want and are abandoned to always bear in mind that God loves them and hears their prayers.
The Church has celebrated the World Day of the Poor on the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time since 2017. Pope Francis established the commemoration in his Apostolic Letter, Misericordia et Misera, to celebrate the end of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. The theme for the 2019 World Day of the Poor is “The Hope of the poor shall not perish for ever."
“You who are little, who are poor, fragile, you are the Church’s treasure. You are in the Pope’s heart, in Mary’s heart, in God’s heart”, the Pope says in the video message sent on Friday.
The Fratello association, in collaboration with dioceses and associations from all over the world, aims to serve at the very heart of the Church, meeting the poor and giving them their rightful place in the Church.
In his message, Pope Francis goes on to encourages the pilgrims in Lourdes to care for those who are sick.
He points out that there is “no one so poor to have nothing to give”. He notes that love saves the world and that God wants us to be the vessels through which love flows.
It is repulsive to read that an association had invited certain members to Lourdes to spend four days with "socially excluded" people. First of all, nobody ought to be categorized. To be labeled as "socially excluded" is especially egregious. People are people. People become "socially excluded" precisely because they are being pigeonholed in one or more of the categories exemplified above and thus can easily be ignored as a whole as opposed to identifying and ignoring each person individually.
In India, "[t]he caste system divides Hindus into four main categories - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras. Many believe that the groups originated from Brahma, the Hindu God of creation....The main castes were further divided into about 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes, each based on their specific occupation. Outside of this Hindu caste system were the achhoots - the Dalits or the untouchables." [2] These "socially excluded" people described in the article cited appeared to be in the same category as the "untouchables."
Does spending four days with the "socially excluded" forever lift the attendees' souls up toward Heaven? Or is the reality more like: "out of sight, out of mind"? [3] It is doubtful that these "socially excluded" people hang around Lourdes year round visibly with their tents set up everywhere along the streets. If they were not local to Lourdes, were they shipped in for the occasion just to allow the privileged to have a four-day experience with them? If they were local people, were they living in the shadow of Lourdes (not unlike Bernadette Soubirous' family whose misfortune led them to "to live in a single room that used to be a prison cell[, one that] was so dank that it was actually deemed to be too 'unsanitary' even for prisoners" [4]), and were they rounded up to make it convenient for the members of the association to experience them and for the pope to address them via his video message?
It sure is easy for Bergoglio to say that God loves those and hears the prayers of those "who suffer want and are abandoned." Has he ever suffered want and was he ever abandoned? How difficult is it for those who are in such predicaments who have never felt the presence of God to believe that God hears their prayers as they continue to be abandoned and continue to suffer? Perhaps God would more clearly hear and then answer the prayers of the one who sits on the throne of Peter unless he does not really pray or believe in God.
The theme for Bergoglio's "World Day of the Poor" for 2019 is "'The Hope of the poor shall not perish for ever.'" Is that what the poor want, to live from generation to generation based on a hope that is never fulfilled, that lasts through time?
It is also repugnant for Bergoglio to describe the "socially excluded" as "little", "poor" and "fragile" and as the Church's treasure. They are indeed the Church's treasure because without them the Church will have no basis to ask for donations, and on which to receive government funding that it uses to support itself and the hypocrites that rule the corrupt and sinful institution. The supercilious Bergoglio needs to understand that the "socially excluded" who live on the margins of society are not the little, poor and fragile ones. On the contrary, they have the fortitude, strength and richness of character to bear the sufferings that those who are used to being pampered by life's comfort lack, and that includes the head of the Vatican and the hypocrites who serve under him.
It sounds nice to hear that the association aims to serve "the very heart of the Church" which could very well be the Church together with its related associations themselves, but not the elimination of poverty since poverty attracts donations and government funds that the Catholic Church and its related entities use to benefit themselves first in order for them to continue as on-going concerns [5].
Toward the end, Bergoglio noted that God wanted people "to be the vessels through which love flows." Beautiful words that perhaps one day Bergoglio can actually demonstrate how they work.
Last but not least, Bergoglio addressed himself in the third person in his video message. He first said that those little, poor and fragile ones were "'in the Pope’s heart, in Mary’s heart, in God’s heart.'" Is using the possessive adjective "my" too close for comfort? Then he ended his speech with these words: "'The Pope loves you and trusts you.'" [6] Is the personal pronoun "I" too personal, or is it because Bergoglio cannot love, even though his title as pope supposedly can?
It is also interesting to observe that Bergoglio listed himself first in these quoted words "'You who are little, who are poor, fragile, you are the Church’s treasure. You are in the Pope’s heart, in Mary’s heart, in God’s heart'" with the Blessed Virgin Mary coming in second and God coming in last. Is this not what Satan wants, to be above the Blessed Virgin Mary and to tower over God?
[1] https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-11/pope-francis-world-day-of-poor-2019.html
[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35650616
[3] https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/out-of-sight-out-of-mind.html
[4] https://www.biographyonline.net/spiritual/bernadette-soubirious.html
[5] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/goingconcern.asp
[6] https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-11/pope-francis-world-day-of-poor-2019.html
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