Rome (AsiaNews) – Those who give and those who receive in the daily work of Caritas experience the beauty of the love that Jesus brought and feel “the depth of the joy that derives from it, a joy that is certainly different from the illusory feelings advertised through publicity”. In his first visit outside the Vatican of 2007, Benedict XVI today went to a Caritas soup kitchen in the Colle Oppio neighbourhood not far from Termini station, described by the pope as a “symbol, somehow, of the Roman Caritas”. The soup kitchen of Colle Oppio is the first reception centre for homeless people set up in Rome. Opened in 1983, it has hosted thousands of poor Italians and foreigners, giving out more than nine million meals. And from today Benedict XVI also has a pass – number 1 – given to him by the Roman Caritas director, Mgr Guerino Di Tora. For his part, the pope made the soup kitchen a gift of 10,000 blankets and 2,000 warm jackets to keep out the winter cold.

Greeted by cries of “long live the pope” by hundreds of people gathered in the building, Benedict XVI recalled how Jesus “the bread that came down from heaven... the bread of life... in some way makes himself visible every day in this soup kitchen, where the aim is not only to give people something to eat but to serve them without distinctions based on race, religion or culture”.

In the Caritas soup kitchen, in the words of the pope, “it is possible to touch with our hands the presence of Christ in our brothers who are hungry and in those who offer them to eat. Here, we can feel how, when we love our neighbour, we get to know God better: in the grotto of Bethlehem, in fact, He manifested himself to us in the poverty of a newborn child needy of everything. The message of Christmas is simple: God came among us because he loves us. God is love: not a sentimental love but a love that became a total gift, up to the sacrifice of the Cross.”

Benedict XVI recalled the words spoken by John Paul II in 1992 when he visited the same institution: “The suffering man belongs to us”. The phrase is recorded on a plaque placed at the entrance of the soup kitchen dedicated to Pope Wojtyla and unveiled today by Benedict XVI.

Turning to the crib set up in the room, Pope Benedict said that “from the grotto of Bethlehem, from every crib, comes an announcement for all: Jesus loves us and teaches us to love. The staff, volunteers and all those who come to the soup kitchen can experience the beauty of this love; they can feel the depth of the joy that derives from it, a joy that is certainly different from the illusory feelings advertised through publicity.”

He added: “May the Holy Spirit animate the hearts of those who run this place and all the workers and volunteers so that they may undertake their service with a dedication that is ever more attentive, inspired by the authentic style of Christian love that the Saints of charity took as their motto: good should be done properly.”