Pope Francis invited 1,500 difficult and homeless people to lunch at the Vatican on November 17, on the occasion of the International Day of the Poor.

Lunch menu in the Vatican's large hall includes lasagne (flat pasta), chicken with mushroom cream sauce, potatoes, cakes, fruit and coffee. Dozens of volunteers at charitable groups took the poor to meals.

"I recently saw some statistics on poverty. Social indifference towards the poor has made you suffer miserably," the Pope said before dining with guests. He also thanked the health workers for providing free health care to the poor in the Vatican.

"Thanks to the Pope and to the Vatican, because the Vatican has helped so many poor people, to provide medicine, food, clothing and so on," Oscar, Lithuanian, who lived in Italy for 13 years, said.

"We don't have a lot of money because we work 7.8 hours, sometimes 10 hours and we only get 30 EUR. It's difficult," said Lum Jarra, a migrant worker from the West African nation of Gambia.

The International Day of the Poor is a celebration of Catholicism, set by Pope Francis in 2016 to raise awareness about caring for the disadvantaged in society.