Jan 31, 2008 / 03:40 am
Mr. Hans-Peter Röthlin, the President of the international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), spoke yesterday in Rome about the recent papal Lenten message saying that, the Pope’s central point is that “the mystery of almsgiving is love.”
In his address Mr. Röthlin spoke about the life and work of the founder of ACN, the late Father Werenfried van Straaten, who died in 2003 and who was known to millions by the nickname of the "Bacon Priest".
During his lifetime, said Mr. Röthlin, Father Werenfried had been described as "the greatest beggar in the Church's history". He had hastened through the world in order "to dry the tears of God, wherever He weeps", and to "bear witness to the sufferings of the children of God". In the Western world above all, he had sought to "reawaken the conscience of the people", Mr. Röthlin continued. Almost his sole method had been preaching, whereby he had told his own story which was "a synonym for the history of his charity", Mr. Rudkin added.
The president of ACN underlined the fact that the Holy Father had said in his Lenten message that everything must tend "not to our own honour, but to the honour of God". Father Werenfried also emphasized this point by reminding people of the poor widow in the Gospels, and in his Spiritual Guidelines admonished those who give away donations that "they must never forget that they are administering not only the money but above all the love of our benefactors".