Vatican City, Dec 17, 2016 / 20:53 pm
There's a Christmas reason to speak always about the poor and about mercy, Pope Francis told a benefit concert Saturday.
"At times someone says to me 'But Father, you always speak about the poor and about mercy.' Yes, I say. But this is not a malady. It's simply the way that God had revealed himself," the Pope said in a Dec. 17 video message.
"The 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," the Pope continued.
"The good news, the announcement of this birth, is not delivered to the king and princes, but to shepherds… This is our God: not the wholly other, but totally the neighbor."