Pope Deplores Scourge of Hunger, Appeal for China

(25 May 08 - RV) “The Eucharist is a school of charity and solidarity. Those who are nourished by the Bread of Christ cannot remain indifferent to the plight of those who are deprived of their daily bread”.

Reflecting on the feast of Corpus Christi in his Angelus this Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI launched a heartfelt appeal for the world’s hungry, deploring the scourges of lack of access to food and poverty, which he described as increasing worrying problems today.

Speaking from the window of his apartments to the tens of thousands of visitors and pilgrims who flocked to St Peter’s this Sunday, taking advantage of the summer sun to hear his Angelus message, Pope Benedict noted that the “international community is struggling to resolve the increasingly grave problem” of feeding the hungry. He said that “many parents are barely able to provide food for themselves and their children”. The Church, he continued “does not only pray to the Lord to ‘give us this day our daily bread’ but is committed to following His example of ‘multiplying the five loaves and two fish’ with innumerable shared initiatives”, so that no one should ever go hungry.

“Today the Church celebrates in different places the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. On Thursday with many of the faithful, I had the joy of taking part in the Corpus Christi procession and venerating this Holy Sacrament in prayer and adoration. Our faith invites us to receive the Body and Blood of Christ with pure hearts so as to enter into communion with him. May his presence always renew our Christian love as we journey with him to Eternal Life”.

Following the Angelus prayer Pope Benedict XVI was treated to a musical interlude, close to his heart, as marching bands from his homeland Bavaria and from Austria entertained the crowds with a tribute to the Holy Father. Their colourful costumes and brass instruments filled the heart of the square, while around them pilgrim groups from Mexico, Poland, Croatia and the United States held aloft banners in celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi.

But in his greetings to the crowds the Pope had a special mention for a very special delegation from China. They had come to take part in Rome in the World Day of Prayer for China, Saturday. Speaking to them Pope Benedict renewed his personal closeness to all those people of China who are experiencing days of anguish and suffering as a result of the earthquake which rocked the Asian nation two weeks ago. Once again he entrusted all of the victims to God’s divine mercy, and expressed his hope that active fraternal solidarity help the people of the affected area return to normalcy.
“Together with you”- said Pope Benedict – “I ask Mary, Help of Christians, Our Lady of Sheshan, to aid all of those in China who are committed, through their daily trials, who continue to believe, to hope and to love, that they may never fear to speak to the world of Christ and about the world to Christ. May they remain credible witness of his love,’ concluded Pope Benedict ‘united to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built’.