Pope Francis urged Catholics to look beyond material possession over Advent.

The Holy Father addressed the faithful at St Peter's Square on Sunday to mark the start of the Church's liturgical year. At the Angelus for the first Sunday of Advent he said the season was "an invitation to vigilance, because, not knowing when He will come, we must always be ready to depart."

If we allow ourselves to be overpowered by a concern for material things, we will not be able to perceive what is much more important: our final encounter with the Lord, he said according to Vatican Radio.

Catholics "are called to enlarge the horizons of our hearts, to be surprised by the life that is presented each day with its newness," he told thousands gathered in the Vatican.

"In order to do this we need to learn to not depend on our own securities, our own established plans, because the Lord comes in the hour which we don't imagine."

The call comes days after the Pope's extraordinary year of mercy came to an end.

As he closed the Holy Door in the Vatican to mark the close of the year last week he said: "We have received mercy in order to be merciful."

In his homily, he said that "the true door of mercy, which is the heart of Christ, always remains open wide for us."