VATICAN CITY, 14 FEB 2010 (VIS) - This morning Benedict XVI visited a shelter run by Roman diocesan Caritas at the city's main railway station, Termini. The shelter, founded twenty-three years ago to assist the poor and marginalised, has rooms, a canteen and a small medical centre.
Addressing the occupants of the shelter, the Pope said "know that the Church loves you deeply and will not abandon you, because it recognises the countenance of Christ in each of you".
"The witness of charity, which finds special expression in this place, belongs to the mission of the Church together with the proclamation of the Gospel. Man does not only need to be fed materially or helped to overcome moments of difficulty, but also needs to know who he is, the truth about himself and his dignity".
The Holy Father explained how "the Church, with her service to the poor, is therefore committed to the universal announcement of the truth about man, who is loved by God and created in His image, redeemed by Christ and called to eternal communion with Him. Many people have thus been able to rediscover, and are rediscovering, their dignity, sometimes lost in tragic events, and to recover confidence in themselves and hope in the future".
The profound certainty of being loved by God "generates in man's heart a powerful, solid, luminous hope, a hope that gives people the courage to continue on the journey of life despite the failures, difficulties and trials that accompany it".
The Pope then mentioned the fact that his visit to the shelter was taking place during the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, called by the European Parliament and Commission. In this context he encouraged "not only Catholics, but all men and women of good will, especially those who have responsibility in public administration and in other institutions, to commit themselves to the building of a future worthy of man, rediscovering in charity the driving force for authentic development and for the creation of a more just and fraternal society".
"In order to promote peaceful coexistence that helps men recognise themselves as members of one human family it is important that the dimensions of gift and gratuity be rediscovered as constitutive elements of daily life and interpersonal relations", he said. "This is becoming daily more urgent in a world in which the logic of profit and pursuit of one's own interests seem to prevail instead".
Voluntary work, as it is experienced in the shelter, said Benedict XVI, "is, especially for the young, an authentic school in which to learn how to build a civilisation of love, one capable of welcoming others in all their uniqueness and difference".
"In her service to persons in difficulty the Church is wholly moved by the desire to express her faith in the God Who defends the poor and loves every man for what he is and not for that which he possesses or achieves", the Pope concluded.
At the end of the visit the occupants and volunteer workers of Roman diocesan Caritas presented the Holy Father with the restored crucifix from the church of St. Peter in Onna, the village most affected by last April's earthquake in the Italian region of Abruzzo. The Pope will return the crucifix to the church when restoration work there is complete.
BXVI-VISIT/CARITAS SHELTER/ROME VIS 20100215 (570)
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