September 27th was the feast of Saint Vincent de Paul. He began “going to the margins” in the year 1617. His followers in the “Vincentian Family” of religious congregations and societies are still serving poor, forgotten, suffering, marginalized people 407 years later.
And Pope Francis continues to reach out to poor of all kinds. After a short time recovering from his inspiring pilgrimage to East Asia, the Pope embarked on another trip to Luxembourg and Belgium, historically Catholic lands that are now afflicted by many kinds of “poverty,” especially spiritual poverty. Among other things, he visited the 600-year-old Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. His words sought to address a deeply impoverished “intellectual world,” so much in need of renewal that it might seek truth and wisdom for the benefit everyone.
