Q. The pope will visit the United States, and he will
speak about the treatment of the poor. Before his visit, many
millions of dollars will probably be spent to pretty up the
churches in three cities, as well as the surrounding areas.
Some time ago, the same thing happened in San Antonio.
Whole neighborhoods were cleaned up just for the pope to
drive through them. Could not this money be better spent for
direct help to the poor and the homeless? - A reader in
Arkansas
A. No doubt there are considerable expenditures
associated with papal trips - both for the preparation of
sites and for security. Those costs are shared by Catholic
communities in the host areas and by municipal governments
(as with welcoming any public figure or celebrity.)
The hope is that direct contact with the pope will produce
notable benefits - increased Mass attendance, growth in
religious vocations, etc. - and such results have been
documented regularly with papal travel in the past (notably,
during the pontificate of St. John Paul II.)
Now comes a new metric under the heading of "papal effect." A
poll by Zogby Analytics has shown that one year into the
papacy of Pope Francis, a fourth of American Catholics have
increased their charitable donations during that 12-month
period. Seventy-seven percent of those donors attribute their
increased giving to the message and example of Pope Francis
himself.
Concern for the poor has been a consistent highlight of the
message of Pope Francis. (He said in "The Joy of the Gospel,"
for example, "Not to share one's wealth with the poor is to
steal from them.")
Consistent with that emphasis, the pope has focused on
poverty in scheduling his upcoming trip to the U.S.
In Washington he will meet with homeless people at a downtown
church; in New York, he will speak with immigrant families at
a school in East Harlem; in Philadelphia he will visit a
prison.
The expectation of the Vatican - and the hope of the Catholic
world - is that such visibility will be leveraged into
increased concern for the poor and attention to their needs.
Questions may be sent to Father Kenneth Doyle at
askfatherdoyle@gmail.com and 40 Hopewell St. Albany, N.Y.
12208.