Among the pandemic of COVID-19, the pope prays for the homeless, quotes the photo from the newspaper

During his morning morning mass streaming, Pope Francis prayed that the coronavirus pandemic could awaken the consciences of people to the condition of homeless people and women who suffer in the world.

At the beginning of the mass on April 2 in the chapel of his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the pope said he was hit by a photo in a local newspaper of "homeless man lying in a parking lot under observation" which "highlights so many hidden problems “in the world.

The image Francis apparently referred to was published on April 2 by the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero which showed a temporary shelter for the homeless in an outdoor parking lot in Las Vegas.

According to an April 1 report in the New York Times, city officials have chosen to host homeless people in a parking lot despite the fact that thousands of hotel rooms in Las Vegas are empty.

The shelter was established due to the temporary closure of a Catholic charity refuge after a homeless person tested positive for COVID-19. However, city officials said the Catholic Charity refuge should be reopened on April 3, according to the New York Times.

"There are so many homeless people today," he said. "We ask Santa Teresa di Calcutta to awaken in us a sense of closeness to so many people in society who, in everyday life, live hidden but, like the homeless, in the moment of crisis, they live in this way".

In his homily, the pope reflected on the reading of the day taken from the Book of Genesis and the Gospel of St. John. Both readings focused on the figure of Abraham and on the covenant of God with him.

The pope said that God's promise to make Abraham father of many nations underlines "the election, the promise and the covenant", which are "the three dimensions of the life of faith, the three dimensions of the Christian life".

“Each of us is elected; no one chooses to be a Christian among all the possibilities that the religious "market" has to offer; He is elected. We are Christians because we have been chosen. In this election, there is a promise, a promise of hope, a sign of fruitfulness, "he explained.

However, God's election and promise are followed by "an alliance of faithfulness" with Christians that requires much more than proving one's faith with their baptism.

"The faith of baptism is a card (identity)," said the pope. “You are a Christian if you say yes to the elections that God has made to you, if you follow that promise that the Lord has made to you and if you live in a covenant with the Lord. This is the Christian life. "

Francis warned that Christians can move away from the path indicated by God if they do not accept God's election by choosing "many idols, many things that are not of God", forgetting the promise of hope and forgetting the covenant with the Lord to make the "fruitful and joyful" life.

"This is the revelation that the word of God gives us today about our Christian existence," said the pope. "May it be like that of our father (Abraham): aware of being elected, joyful of going towards a promise and faithfulness in fulfilling the covenant".

to be elected, joyful to go towards a promise and faithfulness in fulfilling the covenant ".