Vatican City, Oct 19, 2016 / 03:35 am
On Wednesday Pope Francis said that while donating money to charity might make us feel good, seeing real poverty in the flesh is a challenge we have to face, rather than trying to avoid it.
"Poverty in the abstract doesn't challenge us, it makes us think, lament, but when you see poverty in the flesh of a man, woman or child, yes, this challenges us," he said Oct. 19.
To see our brothers and sisters in this state, he said, questions "the attitude we have to run away, the attitude of running away from the needy and not drawing near to them."
Pope Francis' comments were made during his catechesis for the general audience, which centered on the passage in James 2 that says "faith without works is dead." In particular, Francis highlighted the corporal works of mercy of feeding the hungry and giving drink to the thirsty.