Pope Francis: If I ignore the poor, God will ignore me on Judgment Day

Vatican, April 6th, 2020.- "If today I ignore the poor, leave them aside and think they are not there, God will also ignore me on Judgment Day," said Pope Francis during his homily at the Holy Mass he celebrated in the Casa de Santa Marta. Besides indicating this, the Pope also prayed for the prisons that suffer from overcrowding in the midst of the coronarivus pandemic.

While countries have applied social distancing measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Pope Francis warned of the serious consequences of not applying the same measures to overcrowded prisons that are prone to the coronavirus pandemic that humanity is experiencing.

During the transmission of the morning Mass on April 6th at the Casa de Santa Marta, which is now being broadcast live, Pope Francis said that unless the authorities make an effort to solve the problem of prison overcrowding, there is a danger that this pandemic will end in a serious calamity.

At the beginning of the Holy Mass, Pope Francis made his usual intentions, and in this case he expressed

"Let us pray for those responsible, for those who have to make decisions at this time, that they will find just and creative ways to solve this problem.

He also indicated:

"I carry in my heart all the families, especially those who have a sick loved one, or those who are unfortunately mourning the coronavirus or other causes. These days I often think of the lonely people, for whom it is more difficult to face this moment. I think especially of the elderly, whom I love so much. I cannot forget those who are sick because of the coronavirus, those who have been admitted to hospital. I also remember those who are in financial difficulty..."

We won´t be judged by our wealth.

In his homily, Pope Francis reflected on the reading of the Gospel of St. John´s Day in which Mary, the sister of Lazarus, anoints the feet of Jesus with a costly perfume. Judas Iscariot, the Gospel account, detested the use of such perfume and argued that it would have been better to sell the perfume and give the money to the poor.

There are always people like Judas who value wealth under the guise of charity.

Think of some charitable or humanitarian organizations that have so many employees, that have a very crowded structure and in the end, the poor receive 40% because 60% go to pay the salary of so many people. It´s a way of taking money away from the poor.

In the Gospel, Jesus tells Judas that you will always have the poor in your midst. That response highlights the fact that while there are many poor people in public who are forgotten, there are many more who remain hidden in this culture of indifference.

Pope Francis recalled visiting a group of families in Buenos Aires, Argentina, who took refuge in an abandoned factory because they could not pay the rent for their apartments due to the injustice of economic or financial organizations.

If I ignore the poor, God will ignore me on judgment day.

In the end, people will not be judged by our luxury or the trips we make or the social importance we have; we will be judged or our relationship with the poor.

If I ignore the poor today, put them aside and think they are not there, the Lord will ignore me on Judgment Day.

When Jesus says, "You have the poor always with you," he means, "I will always be with you in the poor; I will be present there. And this is not being a communist. This is the center of the Gospel; we will be judged by this.