LOVE FOR OTHERS IS BASED ON DIVINE LOVE

Vatican City, 31 October 2013 (VIS) – This morning, in the Sala Clementina of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, Pope Francis received in audience the members of St. Peter's Circle. The Pope emphasised that the work of the Circle was carried out as a duty of the lay faithful, and commented that “every day each one of us is called to console, to become a humble but generous instrument of God's providence and of His merciful goodness, of His love that understands and sympathises, of His consolation that relieves and encourages”. Likewise, the Pope thanked them for Peter's Pence, the annual charitable offering collected by this group in the parishes of Rome.

Francis concluded by encouraging the members to continue in their work, “a visible sign of Christ's charity towards those who find themselves in need, in both a material and a spiritual sense, and to the pilgrims who come to Rome from all over the world. … continue in your work, drawing upon love for your brothers from the school of divine charity, through prayer and in listening to the Word of God”.