“Both the rich and the poor die, they have the same destiny: we all die, there are no exceptions to this”, Pope Francis said in today’s catechesis, commenting on the Parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Referring to the Gospel reading, the Pope explained that when the rich man dies, he turns to Abraham for help, “calling him father: he claims he is his son, a member of the people of God. Yet, he completely disregarded God during his life; he made himself the centre of everything instead, and withdrew in on himself, in his world of luxury and pleasure. By excluding Lazarus, he paid no attention to either the Lord or his law”. “To ignore the poor is to despise God!”, Pope Francis warned, who then repeated “we should learn this well: to ignore the poor is to despise God!”. There is a “detail worthy of note” in the parable, that is, “the rich man does not have a name, whilst the poor man’s name is repeated five times, and Lazarus means ‘God helps’”. According to Pope Francis, “Lazarus, who lies outside at the door, is a living reminder for the rich man to remember God, but the rich man ignores the reminder. He will be condemned, not because of his wealth, but because he was unable to feel compassion for Lazarus and help him.”