Christmas thoughts from Vatican

 Pope Francis on Thursday exhorted people to bring the “poor and marginalized” into their lives. And a seven-year-old boy did precisely that.

"By leaving a place at the dinner table on Christmas eve, let us remember the poor, the hungry, people who are alone, the homeless, the marginalized, the war weary, and especially children!" This was Pope Francis' invitation to faithful in St Peter's Square at the end of his General Audience catechesis on December 18.

According to L'Osservatore Romano,  there were thousands in the Square listening to his reflection on the great consolation that is Christmas, that "feast of trust and of hope" because "God is with us". One such listener was a seven-year-old boy from Spain, José Luis. It had been his idea first to give Pope Francis a gift for the poor.

 And so, his parents -- who work for a poultry company in Galicia -- along with other managers of Coren, on behalf of 6000 families, presented the Pope with 750 kgs of chickens. Packed and ready to cook, the chicken will be distributed by Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, the Pope's Almoner, to soup kitchens around Rome, beginning with shelters run by the Missionaries of Charity in the Vatican and throughout the city, the Vatican paper said.

 There can’t be a humbler message and a wonderful act than this. Jesus might have smiled.

Recyclers and food wastage

 Vatican Radio said Pope Francis sent a message to world’s “cartoneros” and “recicladores” (literally, “cardboard people” and “recyclers”-- the poor people who collect and pick through the trash in many cities around the globe).
  In his message on Friday, the Pope urged the workers to raise awareness of food waste. "We are living in a throwaway culture, where we easily toss away not only things, but people,” Pope Francis said.

  He added that the food which is discarded could “feed all the hungry people of the world”, Vatican Radio said.