The Vatican will next month host a concert for the poor and homeless of Rome, inviting poor people as guests of honour and using any funds raised to go towards Pope Francis's charities.
The concert, called 'With the Poor and for the Poor,' will take place on November 12 in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall.
Voluntary donations collected at the end will benefit the building of a new cathedral in Moroto, Uganda, and an agrarian school in Burkina Faso in West Africa.
After the concert, volunteers of the Jubilee of Mercy and members of the choir of the Diocese of Rome will hand out a meal and a small gift to the invited guests, the Catholic News Agency reported.
Performances will be by the Roman Symphonic Orchestra and the National Choir of Saint Cecilia, directed by the Academy Award-winner Ennio Morricone, performing excerpts from some of Morricone's most famous works.
Msgr Marco Frisina will also direct the choir of the Diocese of Rome in performing several sacred songs and will lead those present in reflections on the theme of charity in honour of the end of the Jubilee of Mercy.
Last May, guests at a similarly-themed concert included detainees from Rome's Rebbibia prison as well as the elderly, the sick, families and young people from Roman parishes, particularly in poorer areas.
News of the concert for the poor came as Pope Francis urged Christians to welcome refugees and migrants and said that in doing so we are welcoming Christ in them, and helping to restore their full dignity as humans, adding that failure to do so encourages human trafficking.
"These works, in fact, make evident that Christians are not tired and lazy in waiting for the final encounter with the Lord, but every day go out, recognising his face in the many people asking for help," the Pope said at his general audience yesterday.
Francis, preaching on Matthew 25:35-36 - "I was a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me" - said that works of mercy related to strangers are "timelier than ever", adding that "the economic crisis, armed conflict and climate change drive many people to emigrate".
He went on: "However, migration is not a new phenomenon...The history of mankind is the history of migrations in all latitudes, there is no people that has not known the phenomenon of migration."
But, he added: "Today, the context of economic crisis unfortunately favours the emergence of attitudes of closure and not welcome. In some parts of the world walls and barriers arise...Closure is not a solution, in fact, it ultimately benefits criminal trafficking. The only solution is that of solidarity."
Pope Francis explained that clothing the naked can mean helping those who "do not have a job, a house, a just wage", or those who are discriminated against because of their race or faith. These "are all forms of 'nudity' before which we as Christians are called to be attentive, vigilant and ready to act," the Pope said.
Calling on the whole Church to act, Pope Francis said: "It is a commitment that involves everyone, without exception. Dioceses, parishes, institutes of consecrated life, associations and movements, as individual Christians, we are called to welcome the brothers and sisters fleeing war, famine, violence and inhumane living conditions."
He continued: "Dear brothers and sisters, do not fall into the trap of closing in on ourselves, indifferent to the needs of brothers and worried only about our own interests."
Together, he said, the Church can be a "great strength of support for those who have lost home, family, work and dignity...And to clothe the naked, what is it but to restore dignity to those who have lost it? It is precisely to the extent that we open ourselves to others that life becomes fruitful, society regains peace and people recover their full dignity."
