Helping the poor is a ‘passport to paradise’: Pope

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis welcomed the poor, homeless and unemployed as guests of honour for a Mass and gourmet meal in the Vatican on Sunday, saying that helping the needy was one way of obtaining a “passport to paradise”.
Francis celebrated a Mass marking the Roman Catholic Church´s first yearly World Day of the Poor, which the pope established to draw the attention of the world´s 1.2 billion Catholics to the neediest. Volunteers from charity organisations brought about 7,000 needy people to St Peter´s Basilica for a special Mass celebrated by the pope, who has made defence of the poor, immigrants and downtrodden a major plank of his papacy. About 1,500 of them were having lunch with the pope in the Vatican´s large audience hall and others were being taken to eat as guests in nearby pontifical colleges.