Let's not forget the poor, pope tells govts

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 17 - Pope Francis marked the World Day of the Poor Sunday by urging world governments not to forget the poor.
    "I say it to the Church, I say it to the governments of the States and to the international organizations, I say it to each and everyone: please, let's not forget the poor", Francis concluded his homily in a mass in St. Peter's for the World Day of the Poor.
    The 87-year-old Argentine pontiff went on to quote late Milan Cardinal and theologian Carlo Maria Martini.
    "Dear friends, on this World Day of the Poor I like to recall a warning from Cardinal Martini.
    "He said that we must be careful to think that first comes the Church, already solid in itself, and then the poor we choose to care for".
    In reality, "we become the Church of Jesus to the extent that we serve the poor, because only in this way does the Church 'become' itself, that is, a house open to all, a place of God's compassion for the life of every man." (ANSA).