The poor cannot wait

On 13 June 2025, Pope Leo XIV published his message for the 9th World Day of the Poor, which will be held on 16 November. The Holy Father states that “the poor are not a pastime for the Church, but rather our most beloved brothers and sisters, because each of them, by their very existence and also by the words and wisdom they bring, leads us to touch the truth of the Gospel with our own hands.” He reminds all Christian communities that “the poor are at the centre of all pastoral action.”

Many may seek refuge in the words of Jesus Christ himself, in the Gospel according to John: “The poor you always have with you…” (Jn 12:8a), justifying the inevitability of poverty and the fact that we will never be able to eliminate it. But this is not true! We must reduce poverty and its alarming numbers as much as we can, whether through the fair distribution of wealth, fair wages and state support; or through social promotion and education, breaking the cycles of its transmission from generation to generation.

In Portugal, we have shocking poverty figures for a European country. According to the National Institute of Statistics, in 2024, 19.7% of the Portuguese population would be at risk of poverty or social exclusion. In other words, almost two million Portuguese people do not have enough to live with dignity. We cannot remain indifferent and silent.

We must once again rekindle our hearts with the words of Father Américo, founder of the Obra da Rua. He wrote in the pages of his book Pão dos Pobres : “The great remedy is to choose the poorest of the poor; the most disheveled of the filthy; the most despicable of the despised. It is to take the most seriously ill from among the sick, the most hungry from among the hungry, and the most addicted from among the addicted. Apply the remedy according to the patient and according to the wounds of each one; care for all of them with very right and very silent intention.” But he did not stop at words. He created the Património dos Pobres, in which each community built houses for the most disadvantaged; the Calvário for the terminally ill or helpless and the Gaiato for orphaned or abandoned children.

I remember my catechist from my first communion who told me about the times when Father Américo would go to the pulpit of the Bonfim Church wearing a black cloak and preaching, appealing to the generosity of the faithful. He always took two young men from his work with him. My catechist told me that the priest's fervor was so great that people would empty their wallets into the alms bags of the boys and the ladies would take off their jewelry and give it to help the poor.

We must repeat the words of D. António Francisco dos Santos, who in his first homily as Bishop of Porto, in April 2014, said: “Let us be bold, creative and decisive. Above all where the vulnerable, the poor and the suffering are at stake. The poor cannot wait.”

Those who live in poverty cannot wait. The poor exist and they are people who deserve all our attention and care. If each community, neighborhood or parish is attentive to those who are suffering from deprivation and reacts, providing assistance and resolving the most urgent situations, the world will begin to change through us and our proximity.

We cannot expect the State to do everything. What we need to do is demand that State bodies, from local authorities to the government, support those who are on the ground and know the reality. How can we hold celebrations, festivals and monumental processions when there are brothers and sisters in our lands who count their pennies to survive and have to choose between eating or taking medication, between eating or enduring extreme cold or heat? We need to ask Christian communities to do more and say less.