The Concept of the Poor Church TodayThe words "the Church of the Poor," spoken by Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio before his election as Pope, have not only become a slogan but a program of action for the entire Catholic world. Today, more than ten years after the beginning of Pope Francis's pontificate, this concept has taken concrete form. This is not charity in the classical sense. It is a rethinking of the very essence of the church's mission: not to be an institution for "good Christians," but to become a space where the poor person feels not an object of assistance but a subject of change.From Theory to PracticeUnder Pope Francis, the concept of the "Church of the Poor" has ceased to be an abstract idea and has become a real policy. The Pontiff has chosen to live in the guesthouse of Santa Marta instead of luxurious apartments, has refused the papal car and expensive vestments. But the main thing is not this. He has created a special organ — the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, which deals not only with the distribution of money but also with the analysis of systemic causes of poverty. Francis wrote the apostolic exhortation "Evangelii Gaudium," where he directly stated: "I prefer a church that is wounded, stained, and dirty because it has gone out onto the streets." This was a manifesto of a new ecclesiology — a church that does not fear marginality.Leo XIV: Successor and ContinuerPope Leo XIV, elected in May 2025, did not simply inherit this course but deepened it. As a bishop in Peru, he knows what poverty in Latin America is like, not from books. In his first encyclical "Lumen et Pax," he devoted an entire chapter to "the economy of mercy," proposing to create an international fund for the cancellation of debts of the poorest countries. Leo XIV also intensified the fight against financial abuses within the Vatican itself, making the expenses of the curia transparent. His approach is pragmatic: it is not possible to preach poverty while liv ... Read more