Pope Francis recalled the world's emergencies during his Sunday Angelus prayer in the southern Basilicata city of Matera. Speaking at the end of an Italian church congress that coincided with Italy's general election on September 25, the pontiff called for a society that knows how to "build a more inclusive and fraternal future."

"Migrants are to be welcomed, accompanied, promoted and integrated," he said on the World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

The pontiff warned against the creation of barriers. "If we dig now an abyss with our brothers and sisters, we dig our own grave" for the future; "if we raise walls against our brothers and sisters, we will also remain imprisoned in loneliness and death later," he noted.

CEI president urges to 'mend lacerations'

The mass was celebrated by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the president of the Italian Bishops Conference, known to have a long affiliation with the Rome-based charity Sant'Egidio that reaches out to migrants and the poor.

Recalling Communion, Zuppi noted that "the taste of bread" also signifies "empathy", "passion to rebuild a lacerated community", the "defense of a common home, joy" and the willingness to build relations with everybody.

Zuppi spoke about Covid-19 and also about "another insidious virus, individualism" which misleads us into thinking we find pleasure "only by multiplying experiences" so that "they are wasted" and "bread is taken away from those who are hungry and die of hunger -- many, too many," he said.

'Injustice must not leave us indifferent'

The pope launched his messages speaking about the rich man -- "who doesn't even have a name", he said -- and Lazarus, a parable of Jesus from the Gospel.

"It is painful to see how this parable is also a story of our time," he commented.

"Injustices, disparity, the resources of the globe distributed unequally, the abuses committed by the powerful against the weak, indifference to the cry of the poor, the abyss we dig everyday by generating marginalization, cannot leave us indifferent," he noted.

The pontiff said we must feel "ashamed" because the fight between the rich and poor "takes place amongst us."

He called for an "effective conversion: from indifference to compassion, from waste to sharing, from selfishness to love, from individualism to fraternity."