Christ's divine compassion and mercy shows true love for humankind, Pope Francis said on Wednesday, urging Catholics to follow his example.
"Jesus does not have a cold heart and feels emotion. He meets people's needs," Francis stated during his weekly general audience at the Vatican.
"Divine compassion is not a vague sentiment but is true love," he said.
Christ's feeding of the five thousand in the Gospel of Matthew shows this, Francis said commenting on the New Testament miracle.
Catholics have a religious duty to actively help others and not "remain passive and cut themselves off from daily life," he said.
God abandons no one and wants us to "concretely partake of his compassion", Francis stressed.
"Christ makes every believer a servant of divine mercy," the pontiff said.
