February 1, 2013. (Romereports.com) Benedict XVI issued his message for this year's coming Lent Season. In it, he reminds people that the bond between faith and charity, is inseparable. Cardinal Robert Sarah, heads Cor Unum, which is the Pontifical Council that deals with all the charitable work of the Church. He echoed the Pope's words by explaining that faith and charity are two sides of one same coin. 


CARD. ROBERT SARAH
Pontifical Council Cor Unum, President
“If I truly have faith and a relationship with God, who is love, then one has to manifest that love concretely with the needy. Jesus did the same thing.”

The Pope's message is divided in four main points. In one of them, he writes, “The Christian life consists in continuously scaling the mountain to meet God and then coming back down... to serve our brothers and sisters with God’s own love.”

CARD. ROBERT SARAH
Pontifical Council Cor Unum, President
“Unfortunately nowadays many say, let's do the charity work, but let's not talk about faith. But when this happens, this is no longer Christian charity.”

MICHAEL THIO
International Confederation of the Society of St Vincent de Paul
“The difference is that for a Catholic lay organization involved in charitable works, our focus is the Christ dimension. We serve the poor with love in our hearts and love is God, God is love. So unless you have this dimension, you are just like another charity secular organization.”

As the president of St. Vincent de Paul, Thio says  this unique difference is recognized internationally. Most importantly though,  it's recognized by the people they help.  

MICHAEL THIO
International Confederation of the Society of St Vincent de Paul
“They say you are different. They know we are different because they say, you have God. That is the key differentiator between a Catholic charity organization and a secular charity organization.”

The Pope's official message for Lent, is published in Italian, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Polish.


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