Agenzia Fides

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - After the Angelus prayer, the Holy Father Benedict XVI recalled Missionary Childhood Day with these words: "Today in Italy is Missionary Childhood Day, dedicated to children who are committed to spreading the Gospel and to concretely help their peers who need it most. Dear children, I thank and encourage you: to bring to all the love of God!". Previously, the Pope had dwelt on the significance of the feast of the Epiphany, its "manifestation to the Gentiles, while many Eastern Churches, according to the Julian calendar, celebrate Christmas. This slight difference - the Pope said - which overlaps the two moments, stresses that the child, born in the humility of the cave of Bethlehem, is the light of the world, who directs the path of all peoples. It is a combination that makes you reflect from a faith point of view: on the one hand, at Christmas, in front of Jesus, we see the faith of Mary, Joseph and the shepherds, and today, in the Epiphany, the faith of the three Magi, who came from the East to worship the King of the Jews." (SL) (Agenzia Fides 07/01/2013)