Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, the founder of Mary’s Meals, met Pope Francis yesterday and presented him with a blue mug. Pope Francis invited the founder to Rome after hearing about the charity’s work providing more than 755,777 children with a daily meal in the world’s poorest countries. “It was a huge privilege and blessing to meet the Holy Father today and represent everyone involved in the mission of Mary’s Meals,” Mr MacFarlane-Barrow said. The global charity’s characteristic blue mug is used by impoverished children to collect their daily meal. Mr MacFarlane-Barrow said: “I presented Pope Francis with the blue Mary’s Meals mug and let him know we are now reaching over three quarters of a million children every school day – many of them having escaped the rubbish dumps where they used to scavenge for their next meal or the fields where they worked – and he gave us a blessing, which we were very grateful for.” Mary’s Meals feeds hungry children in Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and Asia, inspired by Mary, the mother of Jesus, who raised a child in poverty. Pope Francis has said he hopes to dedicate his pontificate to addressing poverty, saying: “Poverty in the world is a scandal. In a world where there is so much wealth, so many resources to feed everyone, it is unfathomable that there are so many hungry children, that there are so many children without an education, so many poor persons.”