“Let us not love in word or speech, but in deed and in truth”. At the beginning of his message for the first World Day of the Poor which he established at the end of the Jubilee, and that will be celebrated on 19 November this year, Pope Francis voices this “imperative that no Christian may disregard”, contained in the first Letter of John, which underlines the contrast between the “empty words so frequently on our lips and the concrete deeds against which we are called to measure ourselves”. “Love has no alibi”, Pope Francis warns: if we want to “love as Jesus loved, we have to take the Lord as our example; especially when it comes to loving the poor”. “Such love cannot go unanswered”, the Pope exhorts: God’s mercy to us should “shape our lives and bring forth compassion and works of mercy for the benefit of our brothers and sisters in need”. “The Church has always understood the importance” of the “cry” of the poor, Pope Francis says in his message, also citing the Acts of the Apostles and the “lively concern” of the early Christians who “sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need”.