grammar - Is it common to use an adjective as a noun without ‘the’ or the following word in the press headlines?

Washington Post November 29 issue reports Pope Francis has been encouraging Vatican’s charity activity under the headline: Pope ramps up charity office to be near poor, sick. It begins with the following sentence:

“Pope Francis has ramped up the Vatican’s charity work, sending his chief alms-giver and a contingent of Swiss guards onto the streets of Rome at night to do what he usually can’t do: comfort the poor and the homeless.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/pope-ramps-up-charity-office-to-be-near-poor-sick/2013/11/29/ac9cd9a6-58d0-11e3-bdbf-097ab2a3dc2b_story.html?tid=pm_pop&wpisrc=nl_most

Is it common to spare “the” or “people” in front, or after “poor” and “sick” like this in journalism English? To me you can not save much space by sparing 'the,' and ‘to be near poor, sick” sounds like “feel like being poor and sick.

Answer

Here are some relevant portions that might help from an educational article about writing headlines:

http://www.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/Courses/ResourcesForCourses/WritingHeadlines.html

What is a headline?

A headline is an abstract sentence

Usually it is only five to ten words

It is a complete thought

Grammar

Don't use the articles a, an and the. They waste space unnecessarily.

So while articles would be required in written or spoken English, headlines are specifically an exception to the rule.