Vatican City: As the Catholic Church prepares to observe the Ninth World Day of the Poor on Sunday, 16 November 2025, Pope Leo XIV has issued a compelling message anchored in the theme: “You are my hope.” His reflections urge the faithful not only to serve the poor but to see them as carriers of authentic Christian hope.

Referencing both Psalmic wisdom and the lived realities of the impoverished, the Holy Father calls for a shift in mindset—from viewing the poor as recipients of charity to recognising them as agents of hope and transformation. He expresses his aspiration that the Jubilee Year may foster fresh social policies that address both age-old poverty and its modern variants.

Pope Leo XIV reflects on how those who lack material security often exhibit a profound and enduring hope, free from dependence on wealth or power. “They are stripped of worldly assurances,” he writes, “and so their gaze turns more naturally toward God.” It is precisely in this poverty of means, he asserts, that one discovers the richness of lasting hope.

Echoing Saint Paul’s assurance that “we have set our hope on the living God,” the Pope affirms that true Christian hope—grounded in the divine—never disappoints.

The Pope’s message, released on the Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua, boldly challenges a culture that treats poverty as a side issue. He reminds the Church that the gravest form of poverty is not knowing God, quoting Pope Francis’s Evangelii Gaudium: “The poor have a special openness to the faith.” Spiritual care, he warns, must never be neglected in social outreach.

He recalls that early Christians saw hope as an anchor—a stabilizing force amid storms of war, displacement, and environmental collapse. “Christian hope,” he writes, “anchors our dignity and our future in the promise of Christ.”

Pope Leo underscores that addressing poverty requires more than temporary relief. He points to the structural causes—such as injustice in labor, housing, healthcare, and education—that must be dismantled through just and inclusive policies. “Weapons cannot build peace,” he insists. “Security arises from justice, education, employment, and access to healthcare.”

Drawing on Saint Augustine, he presses the faithful to move beyond acts of generosity toward systemic transformation: “You give bread to the hungry; it would be better if none were hungry.”

While decrying the global culture of indifference, Pope Leo praises the many quiet efforts already underway—soup kitchens, shelters, schools for the poor—as “signs of hope” that must be seen, supported, and multiplied. “The poor are not burdens to be managed,” he says. “They are the heartbeat of the Gospel—they bring us closer to Christ.”

This year’s observance, the Pope reminds us, is tied closely to the ongoing Jubilee celebrations. As pilgrims pass through Holy Doors seeking grace, they are called to leave with a renewed sense of mission and moral responsibility. “Once the Holy Door closes,” he writes, “may we open wide the doors of our hearts and homes.”

Pope Leo XIV closes his message by entrusting the world’s poor to Mary, Comforter of the Afflicted, and invites all people of goodwill to join in a collective prayer of hope, singing the Te Deum’s closing words: “In you, O Lord, is our hope, and we shall never hope in vain.”

Instituted in 2017 by Pope Francis, the World Day of the Poor is observed on the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. It serves as a call for all Christians—and those of goodwill—to reflect deeply on poverty, forge real connections with those affected by it, and act courageously to break its cycles.