Pope Francis in Trieste, Italy, highlights the dignity of migrants and prisoners

Faced with a consumerist society that is sometimes “anesthetized,” we must remember the “scandal” of our Christian faith: that God became man and dwells in each one of us, especially the weakest, said Pope Francis in the city of Trieste. , in northern Italy, this Sunday.

We need “the scandal of faith,” said the Pontiff when celebrating Mass this July 7. A faith rooted in the God who became man and, therefore, a human faith, a faith of the flesh, that enters history , that caresses people’s lives, that heals broken hearts, that becomes a yeast of hope and seed of a new world.”

At Mass before some 8,500 people in Unità d’Italia square, next to the port of Trieste, Francis said that Catholics need “a faith that awakens consciences from their lethargy, that puts its finger on the sores of society (. ..) a restless faith, which helps to overcome mediocrity and laziness of the heart, which becomes a thorn in the flesh of a society often anesthetized and stunned by consumerism.”

Pope Francis celebrated Mass during a half-day visit to Trieste for the closing of the 50th Social Week of Catholics, an annual event organized by the Catholic Church in Italy, with the aim of promoting Catholic social teaching. The theme of this year’s meeting, which had around 1,200 participants, was democracy.

After addressing attendees at the congress, which took place July 3-7 at a nearby conference center, the Pope headed by golf cart to a sunny Unità d’Italia for Mass, which he concelebrated with nearly 100 bishops and 260 priests.

Before Mass, he greeted a 111-year-old Trieste resident named Maria, according to the Holy See Press Office.

Reflecting on the humanity of God in his homily, the Pope said: “His (God’s) presence is revealed precisely in the faces emptied by suffering and where degradation seems to triumph. The infinity of God is hidden in human misery, the “The Lord is moved and makes himself present, and makes himself a friendly presence precisely in the wounded flesh of the last, of the forgotten, of the discarded. The Lord manifests himself there.”

“And we, who sometimes get unnecessarily scandalized by so many little things, would do well to ask ourselves: why are we not scandalized by the rampant evil, by the humiliated life, by the problems of work, by the suffering of emigrants?”, he said. .

The Catholic Social Week was celebrated in Trieste, a port city located on a narrow strip of Italian territory in the far northeast of the country, nestled between the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia, with the border with Croatia nearby.

The city’s position has made it a common arrival point for migrants arriving in Europe via the Balkan migration route.

In its annual report, an aid group noted a worrying increase in migrant children arriving in the city.

According to the International Rescue Committee, around 3,000 unaccompanied children arrived as migrants in Trieste in 2023, an increase of 112% compared to the previous year.

The group says that in 2023 they met and provided help to a total of 16,052 people who arrived at the Trieste train station via the Balkan migration route. About 68% of the migrants came from Afghanistan.

“Continue to work on the front lines to spread the Gospel of hope, especially towards those who come from the Balkan route and towards all those who, in body or spirit, need to be encouraged and consoled,” Pope Francis said in his homily on July 7th.

Earlier in the morning, Francis met briefly with a group of around 150 migrants and people with disabilities.

The Pope also remembered the prisoners in his reflection. Trieste made headlines earlier this year due to severe overcrowding in the city’s main prison.

“Why do we remain apathetic and indifferent to the injustices of the world?” said the pontiff. “Why don’t we take seriously the situation of the prisoners, which also emerges from this city of Trieste as a cry of anguish? Why don’t we contemplate the misery, the pain, the waste of so many people in the city? We are afraid “We are afraid of finding Christ there.”

At the end of the Mass, the Pope led those present in praying the Angelus, as he does every Sunday. Before reciting the Marian prayer, he made reference to Trieste’s reception of migrants.

Trieste “is an open door to immigrants and all those who struggle the most,” he said.

“Trieste is one of those cities that have the vocation to bring together different people: first because it is a port, it is an important port, and then because it is located at the crossroads between Italy, Central Europe and the Balkans,” said Pope Francis. . “In these situations, the challenge for the ecclesial and civil communities is to know how to combine openness and stability, welcome and identity,” he expressed.

After the Mass and Angelus, Pope Francis boarded a helicopter to the Vatican from the nearby Audace Pier. He arrived at the Vatican shortly before 2:00 p.m. (local time), according to the Holy See Press Office.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.