World Day of the Poor

November 18, 2018 Event Time: 12:00 AM

Francis announced the World Day for the Poor in his concluding message for the Jubilee Year of Mercy. He said he wanted it to be celebrated annually on the Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, a week before the Solemnity of Christ the King, as “yet another tangible sign of this Extraordinary Holy Year.”

“This would be the worthiest way to prepare for the celebration of the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, who identified with the little ones and the poor and who will judge us on our works of mercy,” Francis said, adding that the event would also “represent a genuine form of new evangelization which can renew the face of the Church as She perseveres in her perennial activity of pastoral conversion and witness to mercy.”

It is an opportunity not only to grow in mercy and charity toward the poor and needy, but to shape our attitude toward them on a daily basis.

To learn more and read Pope Francis’s inaugural 2017 Message for the day click here.