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Pope: There is no charity without life in Christ. At the general audience held in St Peter's Square this morning, before more than 16,000 faithful, Benedict XVI presented the figures of two holy priests …More
Pope: There is no charity without life in Christ.

At the general audience held in St Peter's Square this morning, before more than 16,000 faithful, Benedict XVI presented the figures of two holy priests in connection with the city of Turin, where he will visit this Sunday.

St. Leonardo Murialdo and St. Giuseppe Benito Cottolengo were priests in the nineteenth century.
Benedict XVI: "They lived their ministry in the total gift of their lives to the poorest, most needy, the neglected, always finding the deep roots, the inexhaustible source of these actions in their relationship with God, drawing from His love, in the profound conviction that it is not possible to exercise charity without living in Christ and the Church."

Benedict XVI recalled that, now at the 110th anniversary of his death, the core of St. Murialdo's spirituality was "the conviction of the merciful love of God", and that the law of his priesthood was "the love of God and love for God."

The Pope then recalled St. Giuseppe Benito Cottolengo, who lived 40 years before Murialdo, and always defined himself as "the laborer of Divine Providence", as well as the creation of the work of the "Little House of Divine Providence, known today as "Cottolengo", a community where both healthy and sick all share the same daily burden."