{"id":17442,"date":"2016-12-18T03:53:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-18T03:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/why-speak-about-the-poor-look-to-christmas-pope-francis-says-30346\/"},"modified":"2016-12-18T03:53:00","modified_gmt":"2016-12-18T03:53:00","slug":"why-speak-about-the-poor-look-to-christmas-pope-francis-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2016\/12\/why-speak-about-the-poor-look-to-christmas-pope-francis-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Why speak about the poor? Look to Christmas, Pope Francis says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Vatican City, Dec 17, 2016 \/ 08:53 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- There\u2019s a Christmas reason to speak always about the poor and about mercy, Pope Francis told a benefit concert Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt times someone says to me \u2018But Father, you always speak about the poor and about mercy.\u2019 Yes, I say. But this is not a malady. It\u2019s simply the way that God had revealed himself,\u201d the Pope said in a Dec. 17 video message.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that Christmas is almost upon us reminds us of the way in which God entered the world: born of the Virgin Mary like all children, wrapped in swaddling clothes, picked up, nursed. Not only him, but his mother and Joseph have had to contend with the fact that there was no room for them in the inn,\u201d the Pope continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good news, the announcement of this birth, is not delivered to the king and princes, but to shepherds\u2026\u00a0 This is our God: not the wholly other, but totally the neighbor.\u201d<\/p>\n

His video message was delivered to Paul VI Hall the evening of Francis\u2019 eightieth birthday. The concert marked the bicentenary of the Vatican Gendarmerie and was headlined by the Italian singer Claudio Baglioni. The concert benefited a pediatric hospital in Bangui in the Central African Republic and also the victims of the major earthquake in central Italy.<\/p>\n

The Pope offered thanks in the name of the children of Bangui and of the earthquake victims in Italy, saying the benefit concert would help construction projects for \u201cthe weakest and most fragile children.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can do great things, carry out large projects, but what we do will be the signature of our passion for the Gospel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Pope said he is \u201cvery happy\u201d with the initiative, noting the many artists and skilled workers the Gendarmerie has involved in the benefit.<\/p>\n

He said these people are \u201cartists of mercy\u201d because the works of mercy that find inspiration in God are shaped by the hearts and hands of men and women.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo become artists of charity and builders of mercy\u2014this is how to invest, not in the stock market, but in paradise, in the blessed life of heaven, in the love of the Father.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pope cited his apostolic letter \u201cMisericordia et misera,\u201d where he said that the culture of mercy is formed in \u201cassiduous prayer.\u201d He spoke about overcoming the temptation of merely words and a theory of mercy and the need to transform mercy into everyday life that becomes \u201cparticipation and sharing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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Vatican City, Dec 17, 2016 \/ 08:53 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- There’s a Christmas reason to speak always about the poor and about mercy, Pope Francis told a benefit concert Saturday.<\/p>\n

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