PETER'S PENCE: COMMUNION WITH POPE AND ATTENTION TO NEEDS

VATICAN CITY, FEB 25, 2006 (VIS) - This morning the Pope received members of the Rome-based charity organization Circle of St. Peter, for their traditional annual audience during which they present him with Peter's Pence, the proceeds of collections taken up in Roman churches over the last year.

  "This is a gesture," said the Holy Father, "with a value that is not only practical but also strongly symbolic, as a sign of communion with the Pope and of attention to the needs of our brothers and sisters. For this reason, your service has a uniquely ecclesial value."

  After recalling how the second part of his recent Encyclical "Deus caritas est" is dedicated to the practice of charity by the Church, "as a community of love," Benedict XVI told his listeners that the same document traces outlines that could prove useful to people like them, who collaborate in "the ministry of charity of the Christian community."

  "I recalled," he continued, still referring to the Encyclical, "that the principle motivation for action must always be the love of Christ; that charity is more than a simple activity and implies the giving of self; that this gift must be humble and removed from all feelings of superiority; and that its strength comes from prayer, as the example of the saints shows."

  The Pope concluded his address by entrusting the members of the Circle of St. Peter "to the saints of charity, of whom, beginning with Deacon Lawrence, the history of the Church of Rome is so rich."
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