Nuncio to Colombia feeds poor in Bogotá slum

(Vatican Radio) The Apostolic Nuncio to Colombia, Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, on Thursday visited the “Servidores del Servidor” community in the Santa Fe slum of Bogotá.

Archbishop Balestrero – who previously served Undersecretary of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of the Vatican State – helped prepare and serve meals to about 150 people.

Photos provided by the ACI Prensa news service show the smiling Nuncio in an apron making lentil soup, and greeting those served by the charity.

"We are here to follow the Gospel,” Archbishop Balestrero told ACI Prensa.  “We are in Lent and 2016 is the Year of Mercy, and  one of the works of mercy is to feed the hungry.”

The “Servidores del Servidor” provides a daily meal in the Santa Fe neighborhood, as well as offering spiritual counseling. It also has an orphanage, offers support for addicts, and conducts workshops to help people caught up in the sex trade.

Archbishop Balestrero encouraged them in their work, and reminded all those present that “in the midst of us all is always the Lord.”