The Church in Africa And the Challenges of Ministering to the Poor of Saint Francis
Pope Francis encouraged us to care for all the poor. He also observed that, both now and over the next twenty years, the economy will increasingly give rise to particular groups of poor people who are treated almost like lepers—those who are regarded as outcasts and whose suffering is considered a nuisance to the system.
These include the homeless, street children, people living in slums and shanty towns, economic migrants etc.
We call these groups of the poor the Poor of Saint Francis. This is because the way Saint Francis embraced the lepers of his time inspires us to embrace the poor who are treated almost like lepers in our own time.
As the throwaway culture deepens, these groups are likely to grow in the years ahead. The Church in Africa needs to prepare itself on how it can now and in the next 20 years deepen its ministry to this group of the poor, the poor of Saint Francis.
Through this website, we provide a space where pastoral agents in dioceses, Caritas, religious congregations, who are involved in serving the Poor of Saint Francis can share best practices and work together to deepen the Gospel witness that the Church in Africa is called to offer in response to the broken economy and the growing number of the Poor of Saint Francis.
Today, more than ever, the economy of exclusion and the politics of greed continue to produce what we call the poor of St Francis: those groups of the poor whom society treats as the outcasts, the scapegoats, and the disposable — the OSDs.
Our hope is that this platform will contribute to deepening the Church’s mission among the poor of Saint Francis—the lepers of our time. Inspired by Christ and the example of Saint Francis, we seek to become a Church that draws near to those whom the world abandons, recognising in their wounded lives the wounded face of Christ and responding with the healing love of God.
