Pope Francis Presents Awards on his Birthday in Honor of St Mother Teresa who "...has been through real spiritual storms with the dark inside her, but she kept on praying, brave!"

Pope Francis, on his 86th birthday, presented an expression of his gratitude to three people who offer their lives for the poor. The Pope has chosen to celebrate his 86th birthday on Saturday by honoring three people who “live charity on behalf of the poorest of the poor.” The Pope offers Fr. Hanna Jallouf, Gian Piero (known as Wué), and Silvano Pedrollo an expression of his gratitude for their charitable efforts for others. According to a press release from the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, the gesture seeks to recall that “each of us is called” to give ourselves in service to others. On Saturday, Pope Francis visits a dormitory in Rome run by the Missionaries of Charity to present his “flower of gratitude” to the three men. Fr. Jallouf is a Franciscan priest who has spent his life serving the poor throughout Syria’s devastating civil war. Gian Piero is a homeless man who gives a portion of the alms he receives each day to those who are worse off than him. Mr. Pedrollo is a businessman from the Italian city of Verona who uses a large part of his business’ profits to help the poor in several African and Latin American nations, as well as in India, to build schools, wells, and healthcare facilities. During the event on Dec. 17, Pope Francis presents each charitable giver with a small globe fixed inside a cube that acts as a pedestal. The cube is a “symbol of the love that upholds the world,” and a window is depicted on the globe showing Mother Teresa embracing a child. 

 WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
TO THE DELEGATION OF THE "MOTHER TERESA AWARD"
Hall of the Consistory
Saturday, December 17, 2022
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I thank you for this visit so full of affection and full of messages: the message of poverty, the message of closeness, the message of brotherhood, the message of prayer, which is the legacy that Mother Teresa has always given us. Even prayer in dark times, because this woman has been through real spiritual storms with the dark inside her, but she kept on praying. brave!
May Mother Teresa help us from heaven to live poverty with simplicity and prayer. Thus we can help others, and it is not a simple charity; which is good, a charity is good, but it is pagan. Christian is closeness, charity with prayer. And that's good.
Now I will give the blessing to everyone.

Source: Vatican News and Vatican.va