Denver, Colo., Aug 31, 2023 / 05:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of September is for people living on the margins.
“A homeless person who dies on the street will never appear among the top stories of search engines or newscasts,” the pope said in a video released Aug. 29.
The Holy Father questioned: “How could we have reached this level of indifference?”
He goes on to ask how we as a society have allowed the “throwaway culture” to “dominate our lives, our cities, our way of life?”
“Our necks are going to get stiff from looking the other way so we don’t have to see this situation,” he said.
The pope urged the faithful to “stop making invisible those who are on the margins of society, whether it’s due to poverty, addictions, mental illness, or disability” and instead “focus on accepting them, on welcoming all people who need it.”
He concluded with a prayer: “Let us pray for those people on the margins of society in subhuman living conditions, that they may not be neglected by institutions and never be cast out.”
Pope Francis’ prayer video is promoted by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which raises awareness of monthly papal prayer intentions.
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If there is a serious contribution to moral awareness by Pope Francis, it’s exactly stated in this oration on the destitute who die obliviously on our streets. “Our necks are going to get stiff from looking the other way so we don’t have to see this situation”.
We immediately conjure myriad reasons why we should look the other way, ‘it’s so common place’. Too often we assume there’ll be unwelcome response. So we move on. If anything will count in our favor at Judgment it would be an effort to respond. We simply have to assume it’s Christ lying there.
Prevention of stiff necks and neckaches is good for one’s wellbeing. We need to do everything that is possible to discourage and reduce disabilities in and around us.