It is extremely hard for our “contemporary world” to “see poverty clearly for what it is”, yet “poverty challenges us daily”. Pope Francis makes this analysis in his Message for the first World Day of the Poor in which he lists the “myriad” faces of poverty, “marked by suffering, marginalization, oppression, violence, torture and imprisonment, war, deprivation of freedom and dignity, ignorance and illiteracy, medical emergencies and shortage of work, trafficking and slavery, exile, extreme poverty and forced migration”. Poverty, Pope Francis continues, “has the face of women, men and children exploited by base interests, crushed by the machinations of power and money”. “What a bitter and endless list we would have to compile were we to add the poverty born of social injustice, moral degeneration, the greed of a chosen few, and generalized indifference!”. “In our own time – Pope Francis decries -, even as ostentatious wealth accumulates in the hands of the privileged few, often in connection with illegal activities and the appalling exploitation of human dignity, there is a scandalous growth of poverty in broad sectors of society throughout our world”. “Faced with this scenario, we cannot remain passive, much less resigned”, the Pontiff exhorts: “There is a poverty that stifles the spirit of initiative of so many young people by keeping them from finding work. There is a poverty that dulls the sense of personal responsibility and leaves others to do the work while we go looking for favours. There is a poverty that poisons the wells of participation and allows little room for professionalism; in this way it demeans the merit of those who do work and are productive. To all these forms of poverty we must respond with a new vision of life and society”. The poor belong to the Church by “evangelical right”, Pope Francis writes in his message, citing Paul VI, “and require of us a fundamental option on their behalf”. “Blessed, therefore, are the open hands that embrace the poor and help them – Pope Francis says as a tribute –: they are hands that bring hope. Blessed are the hands that reach beyond every barrier of culture, religion and nationality, and pour the balm of consolation over the wounds of humanity. Blessed are the open hands that ask nothing in exchange, with no ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’ or ‘maybes’: they are hands that call down God’s blessing upon their brothers and sisters”. To turn our gaze to “all those who stretch out their hands and plead for our help and solidarity”, for “they are our brothers and sisters”: this is what we are called to on the first World Day of the Poor, which is meant to “encourage believers to react against a culture of discard and waste, and to embrace the culture of encounter”. An invitation addressed by Pope Francis to “everyone, independent of religious affiliation”; we are all “invited to openness and sharing with the poor through concrete signs of solidarity and fraternity”. “God created the heavens and the earth for all; yet sadly some have erected barriers, walls and fences, betraying the original gift meant for all humanity, with none excluded”, Pope Francis decries.