“But big cities also conceal the faces of all those people who don’t appear to belong, or are second class citizens. In big cities, beneath the roar of traffic, beneath “the rapid pace of change”, so many faces pass by unnoticed because they have no “right” to be there, no right to be part of the city. They are the foreigners, the children who go without schooling, those deprived of medical insurance, the homeless, the forgotten elderly. These people stand at the edges of our great avenues…in deafening anonymity. They become part of an urban landscape which is more and more taken for granted, in our eyes, and especially in our hearts”.
These words from the homily of Pope Francis in the Mass he celebrated in Madison Square Garden represent a challenge to us as Catholic Christians. Throughout his visit to the United States, the Pope made a point of going out to those whom our society is not swift to embrace, but, in fact, is often ready to reject – the homeless, the immigrant, the poor, the incarcerated. These are the people to whom the Pope gave special attention on this visit and in doing so the Pope is challenging us to do the same – to embrace those whom others reject.
Our Holy Father does not reject capitalism nor does he embrace socialism or communism. What he proclaims is the truth of our scriptures that our economy must serve the needs of all and not just a privileged few. When you have a socio-economic system that creates vast disparities in wealth and there are large numbers of persons who lack what they need to live in dignity, then that socio-economic system is not serving the needs of all and must be changed. This is not a message new to Pope Francis. It is the same message that Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI consistently proclaimed. Pope Francis has simply incarnated this message differently by seeking to live more simply and taking very visible steps to proclaim the church’s solidarity with the poor and powerless of this world. This is why the Vatican created showers and a barbershop for the homeless within Vatican City and now has added a 30-bed shelter. In these simple ways, the Pope makes real the message that he proclaims and challenges us as a society to do more to address the glaring inequities and injustices that now deprive so many of the life that they could have if only we shared more equitably the gifts that are God’s gift to all.
Pope Francis is a blessing to our world but a thorn in our side as well!

Fr. Mark Hallinan, S.J.