Pope says true charity lovingly offers help, expects nothing in return

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- True Christian charity respects the person being assisted and sets no conditions for receiving help, Pope Leo XIV said.

Charity involves both selfless giving and respect for human dignity of the other person, the pope said Sept. 1 as he met people involved in the Capuchin-sponsored Opera San Francesco for the Poor.

"We care for those we meet simply for their own good, so that they may grow to their full potential and follow their own path, without expecting anything in return and without imposing conditions," the pope told the group from Milan.

That way of acting is precisely what "God does with each of us," he said, "showing us the way, offering us all the help we need to follow it, but then leaving us free."

The Opera San Francesco traces its foundation to Capuchin Brother Cecilio Maria Cortinovis, the doorkeeper at one of the order's convents, who was looking for a better way to help all the people who knocked seeking material help.

He was soon joined by a local doctor, and today the group serves 30,000 people a year with its soup kitchens, clothing banks, shower facilities, clinics, psychological support and job counseling.

The group is "made up not of benefactors and beneficiaries, but of brothers and sisters who recognize each other as gifts from God, his presence, mutual help on a journey of holiness," Pope Leo said.

In helping one another, he said, "we honor the body of Christ, wounded and at the same time in continual healing."

Welcoming people as Brother Cortinovis did means "making space for the other in one's own heart, in one's own life, giving time, listening, support and prayer," Pope Leo said.

It is the same attitude Pope Francis often encouraged: "looking in someone's eyes, holding their hand, stooping to them."

That attitude, he said, not only affirms the dignity of the other person, but it creates a "family atmosphere" that "helps us to overcome the loneliness of 'I' through the luminous communion of 'we.' How great a need there is to spread this sensibility in our society, where at times isolation is dramatic!"