To continue the mission of “bringing an authentic testimony of God’s mercy to the poorest” who are often “marginalized and abandoned in the countryside or in towns”. This is the wish expressed by Pope Francis in his message to the International Association for Charity (IAC) on the occasion of the 400^th anniversary of the body, which was founded by Saint Vincent de Paul in Châtillon. “Your Association wants to promote the development of the most disadvantaged and to alleviate their material, physical, moral and spiritual pain”, Pope Francis said, encouraging AIC members to “accompany people in full” by paying “special attention to the precarious living conditions of many women and children”. The starting point is the “incomparable dignity” of every person not as something “limited to material goods, or to social, economic and political problems, but as a person created in the image and likeness of God, as a brother and a sister, as our neighbour for whom we are responsible”.