World Kindness Day: ‘A true Christian brings kindness to others’

By Francesca Merlo

Someone once told Pope Francis “your kindness is my home and the place where I feel safe”. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI spoke those kind words as the two celebrated 65 years since Benedict’s ordination to the priesthood.

Pope Francis demonstrates acts of kindness on a daily basis: as a bishop, he would roam the streets of Buenos Aires handing out food to the homeless and as Pope he has invited them to lunch.

Throughout his pontificate he has stood up for the rights of the poor, the ill, the elderly, migrants, refugees and all those who are in need.

“Deus caritas est” wrote Benedict XVI. God is love. ‘Love’ is the word used to describe God’s unlimited loving kindness towards everyone.

A true Christian brings kindness to others, said Pope Francis. And it is this limitless, selfless loving-kindness towards all other people that glorifies and reflects the nature of God.

Pope Francis once asked the faithful how God shows His love. It is not with great things, he said, but through small acts of kindness.

This kindness, according to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, along with truth and love, are what “make a person pure”.