Pope Francis at a refuge center in Rome

The Pope spent time talking to the refugees and then spoke to those gathered in the adjacent Church of the Gesu. In his speech he said:

“Serve, Accompany, Defend: the three words that are the program of work for the Jesuits and their collaborators.

Serve. What does it mean? To serve means to welcome the persons who arrives, with care; it means to bend down to one in need and to extend your hand to him, without reservations, without fear, with tenderness and understanding, as Jesus bent down to wash the feet of the Apostles. To serve means to work beside the neediest, to establish with them first of all human relations, of closeness to establish bonds of solidarity. Solidarity, a word that elicits fear from the more developed world. They try not to say it. It’s almost a dirty word for them. But it’s our word! To serve means to recognize and welcome the demands for justice, for hope, and to seek ways together, a concrete course of liberation.

The poor are also privileged teachers of our knowledge of God; their fragility and simplicity will unmask our egoisms, our false securities, our pretenses of self-sufficiency, and guide us to the experience of the closeness and tenderness of God, to receive His love in our life, His mercy of a Father who with discretion and patient trust, takes care of us, of all of us.

(…) I would like you all, all persons who inhabit this diocese of Rome, to ask yourselves this question: do I bend down to one in difficulty or am I afraid to soil my hands? Am I closed in on myself, in my things, or do I notice the one in need of help? Do I just serve myself or am I able to serve others as Christ did who came to serve to the point of giving his life? Do I look into the eyes of those who ask for justice or do I look the other way so as not to look into their eyes?

Accompany. (…) Hospitality alone isn’t enough. It’s not enough to give a bun if it isn’t accompanied by the possibility to learn to walk with their own legs. Charity that leaves the poor as they are isn’t enough. True mercy, which God gives and teaches us, calls for justice, for the poor to find the way so that they are no longer poor. It calls for – and asks us, the Church, us, the city of Rome, the institutions – calls for no one being in need of a refectory, of chance lodgings of legal aid service to have his right to live and to work recognized, to be fully a person. Adam said: “We, refugees, have the duty to do our best to be integrated in Italy.” And integration is a right! And Carol said: “Syrians in Europe feel the great responsibility not to be a weight; we want to feel an active part of a new society.” This, too, is a right! Look, this responsibility is the ethical basis; it’s the strength to builds together. I wonder: do we accompany this way?

Defend. To serve, to accompany means also to defend; it means to be on the side of the weakest. How many times we raise our voice to defend our rights, but how many times we are indifferent to the rights of others! How many times we don’t know or do not wish to give voice to the voice of those who – like you – have suffered and suffer, those who have seen their rights trampled upon, those who have lived so much violence that has suffocated even their desire to have justice!

It’s important for the whole Church that the welcome of the poor and the promotion of justice are not entrusted only to “specialists,” but that they focus the attention of the whole pastoral, of the formation of future priests and Religious, of the normal commitment of all the parishes, Movements and ecclesial groups. In particular – and this is important and I say it from my heart – in particular I would also like to invite the Religious Institutes to read seriously and responsibly this sign of the times. The Lord is calling us to live with more courage and generosity the welcome in the communities, in homes, in empty convents … Dearest men and women religious, the empty convents are useless to the Church if they are transformed into hotels and earn money. The empty convents aren’t ours; they are for Christ’s flesh, which the refugees are. The Lord calls us to live with generosity and courage hospitality in empty convents. It certainly isn’t something simple; we need criteria, responsibility, but also courage. We do so much, perhaps we are called to do more, welcoming and sharing with determination what Providence has given us to serve; to overcome the temptation of spiritual worldliness to be close to simple persons and especially the least. We are in need of solidaristic communities that live love concretely!”

Read the whole homily here

View a video clip here