Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “For now, while we are in this world, charity is what distinguishes the Christian. The Christian’s whole life is summed up by charity: what he believes and what he does. For this reason, at the beginning of my pontificate, I wanted to dedicate my first encyclical precisely to the theme of love: 'Deus caritas est.'” This is what the Holy Father Benedict XVI mentioned in his address prior to the recitation of the Angelus on Sunday, January 31, which he dedicated to the so called “Hymn to Charity” of the Apostle Paul, proclaimed in the readings at Mass that day. “In the end, when we will meet God face to face, all the other gifts will disappear; the only one that will remain in eternity will be charity, because God is love and we will be like him, in complete communion with him.”
After the Angelus, Benedict XVI spoke on the World Leprosy Day being celebrated that day: “The last Sunday of January is World Leprosy Day. Our thoughts immediately turn to Father Damien de Veuster, who gave his life for these brothers and sisters, and whom I proclaimed a saint last October. To his heavenly protection I entrust all those people who, unfortunately still today, suffer from this disease, and all those health workers and volunteers who give themselves for the sake of a world without leprosy. I greet in particular the Italian Association of the Friends of Raoul Follereau.”
The Pope also mentioned two initiatives related to the theme of peace, recalling the second Day of Intercession for Peace in the Holy Land and the “Peace Caravan” of the children of Catholic Action in Rome. Two of them, who were accompanying the Holy Father, read the Message of Peace and then set two doves to flight from the Vatican window. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 1/02/2010)
