by Francis X. Rocca

ROME (CNS) – Speaking at an assistance center for foreign refugees in Italy, Pope Francis called on wealthy societies and the Catholic Church to do more to help and defend the rights of the needy.

“Charity that leaves a poor person just the way he is does not suffice,” the pope said Sept. 10 at the Rome headquarters of Jesuit Refugee Service. “True mercy, that which God gives us and teaches us, asks for justice, asks that the poor person find the way to be poor no more.”

In his remarks, the pope recalled his July trip to the southern Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, a major entry point into Italy for undocumented migrants from Africa. During that trip, he denounced the “globalization of indifference” and called for more welcoming policies in richer countries.

As on that occasion, Pope Francis did not hesitate to strike a political note.

“Solidarity, this word that strikes fear in the more developed world,” he said. “They try not to say it. It’s almost a dirty word for them. But it is our word!”

Addressing a wider public, he urged every resident of Rome to ponder a series of soul-searching questions: “Do I stoop toward someone in difficulty or am I afraid to get my hands dirty? Am I closed inside myself, in my things, or am I aware of who needs my help? Do I serve only myself, or do I know to serve others like Christ, who came to serve even to the point of giving his life?”

The pope called the poor “privileged teachers of our knowledge of God; their fragility and simplicity unmask our egoism, our false sense of security, our purported self-sufficiency, and lead us to experience the nearness and tenderness of God.”

Pope Francis did not spare the Church in his criticisms, calling on religious orders to make a stronger commitment to the poor.