Charity

Pope Francis: audience, faith without works “is dead”, “there is always someone who is hungry and thirsty and needs me”

Faith without works “is dead and unable to do works, to create charity, to create love”. Pope Francis recalled this in his catechesis today attended by 35,000 people. “The experience of hunger is painful”, Pope Francis said: “And those who went through war and famine know it. Yet this experience occurs every day, it coexists with abundance and wastage”. James’ words are therefore topical: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well’, but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead”. “It is unable to do works, to create charity, to create love”, Pope Francis added off the cuff. “There is always someone who is hungry and thirsty and needs me”, he said. “I cannot delegate anyone else. This poor person needs me, he needs my help, my word, my commitment”. “We are all involved in this”, Pope Francis continued off the cuff.