Happy Birthday Pope Francis!

Image Vatican Media

Source: Vatican News, Missionaries of Charity

Pope Francis celebrated his 86th birthday today, by honouring three people who "live charity on behalf of the poorest of the poor." He visited a hostel in Rome run by the Missionaries of Charity to make a presentation to Fr Hanna Jallouf, Silvano Pedrollo and Gian Piero (known as Wué. The day also marked the 25th anniversary of Mother Teresa's death.

Fr Jallouf , 70, is a Franciscan priest who has spent his life serving the poor throughout Syria's devastating civil war.

Silvano Pedrollo, 72, is a businessman from 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. 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.

During the event on Saturday, Pope Francis presented each man with a small sculpture of a 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.

The idea for the window came from a remark made by Pope St John Paul II upon the death of Mother Teresa: "Mother Teresa was an open window from which Jesus looked out and smiled and gave comfort and dignity to so many poor people in so many parts of the world."

According to the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, each person is called to be that window, as the Pope's birthday gesture to these three men of charity shows.

"We are delighted that he has chosen our home and our Mother, St Teresa of Calcutta's caress of the poor, as the model for the recipients of the award," the sisters said.

"Mother has been a true Missionary of Charity, a carrier of God's love, setting all on fire with love for Him and for one another, a healing touch of God that cures all diseases, a soothing smile of God that warms all hearts, God's own language of love that all hearts understand," their statement said.

"We assure our beloved Holy Father of our prayers for all his intentions, especially for the suffering people in the world for whom he is deeply concerned," the sisters said.

Last year Pope Francis celebrated his birthday by welcoming to the Vatican a group of refugees from Congo-Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Somalia, and Syria.