Pope asks church organizers to bridge inequality and foster solidarity

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Christians must actively seek ways to bridge the gap between rich and poor created by growing inequality and foster pathways of solidarity, Pope Francis said.

"The social fabric must be reestablished by repairing inequalities," he told a group of church organizers. "No one can remain indifferent before the suffering of others."

The pope met Nov. 4 with participants in an international gathering of "field hospital" churches, which aim to serve their communities in innovative and compassionate ways. The meeting in Rome was their third encounter, bringing together organizers who lead initiatives in countries including Spain, Italy, Mexico, Argentina and Jordan.

One of the first churches in the network to launch a "field hospital" initiative was San Antón in Madrid, which, after being closed for 10 years, reopened around the clock to become a sanctuary for people experiencing homelessness. Churches in other nations followed suit, opening their doors to support refugees and families in vulnerable situations.

Pope Francis said through their ministry, the church organizers "denounce before society that inequality -- sometimes so large between rich and poor, between citizens and foreigners -- that is not what God wants for humanity and, through justice, must be resolved."

He urged them to "sow hope" among the people they serve, whether they are homeless, refugees, members of a vulnerable family, victims of war or otherwise marginalized members of society.

"Although these brothers and sisters of ours often live overwhelmed in the face of a scene that could resemble a 'dead end,'" the pope told them to offer encouragement by reminding them "that Christian hope is greater than any situation."

"This is not easy to say to someone wounded in war," he acknowledged, "but it must be said, because our hope is rooted in the Lord, not in man."

Pope Francis stressed the need to welcome migrants, noting that Spain and Italy need them in light of declining birth rates, and he praised Christians particularly in the southern parts of both countries who have embraced Muslim migrants, viewing this as an opportunity to live out the Gospel through compassionate action.

Pope Francis asked the organizers to remember that to care for society's most vulnerable is a "privilege," explaining that "each time we have the chance to approach them and to offer them our help, it is the opportunity we have to touch the flesh of Christ."

Announcing the Gospel "is not an abstract thing, an ideology, that is reduced to indoctrination," he said, because it is in caring for the vulnerable that evangelization "is made concrete."

"In the Christian commitment to those most in need, that is where true evangelization lies," he said.

The pope encouraged them to bear witness to the Christian principle of welcome "more with gestures than with words," and asked that they continue seeing the face of Christ in each vulnerable person they serve, regardless of the person's faith.