Halfway through his five-day visit to Portugal, the pontiff began the day by confessing to some of the young people who are in the Portuguese capital to attend World Youth Day (WYD).
Francis visited a community center in the Lisbon neighborhood of Serafina, situated below a gigantic 18th-century aqueduct that is a symbol of the wealth that gold from the Portuguese colony of Brazil brought to the country.
Two decades ago, drugs and crime plagued the neighborhood, problems that have been left behind largely thanks in part to the efforts of church charitable groups, including one that was created to provide a home for children whose parents could not afford it. take care of them.
Addressing young people and members of these organizations, the pope said that true service to the community must be done with concrete gestures that have an impact. Francis thanked the ecclesiastical groups for “getting their hands dirty by touching the reality and misery of others.”
“Platonic love does not exist, it is in orbit, but it is not in reality,” he stated, adding that he could not go to Lisbon for WYD without visiting the center because “this is also youth, in the sense that you continually generate new life “.
In addition, he appreciated his “conduct” since “thanks to his commitment and getting his hands dirty for touching reality and the misery of others, they are generating inspiration (and) life.”
Francis has long maintained that true service and charity must hurt and that it is not enough to give a coin to a beggar on the street. He has championed the charitable work of the Church and boosted the Vatican’s efforts by setting up showers and providing medical care for the homeless in the area, as well as regularly sending aid trucks to Ukraine and other areas affected by armed conflict or natural disasters.
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FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
