ROME (CNS) -- Visiting a shelter and soup kitchen operated by the Rome diocesan Caritas organization, Pope Benedict XVI said offering loving service to others is a way to better know God.

"Here one can experience the fact that when we love our neighbor we know God better: In the grotto of Bethlehem, he revealed himself to us in the poverty of a newborn needing everything," the pope said Jan. 4.

When the pope arrived at the Caritas complex, it was named for the neighborhood, Colle Oppio, where it is located. But before he left, he had officially renamed it in memory of Pope John Paul II.

The pope greeted hundreds of people who had gathered outside the complex before touring the reception center, the kitchen, the dining room and the Nativity scene set up by the center's clients and volunteers.

In the courtyard of the soup kitchen, he spoke to some of the 120 volunteers who regularly staff the center and to several hundred of its regular guests.

The Nativity scene, he said, speaks of the love of God.

"In its simplicity, the creche tells us that love and poverty go together," he said.

"Jesus, 'the bread come down from heaven' and 'the bread of life,' makes himself visible in a way every day in this soup kitchen, where people not only are fed, but are served without distinction of race, religion or culture," he said.

"From the grotto of Bethlehem, from every Nativity scene, there spreads a proclamation that is for everyone: Jesus loves us and teaches us how to love," he said.

In serving others, he said, the volunteers "experience the beauty of this love; they can feel the depths of the joy that derives from it, a joy that certainly is different from that illusory joy claimed in advertising."

Caritas officials gave Pope Benedict a laminated pass to the soup kitchen and an apron, while residents of the center's shelter for mothers and children gave him an album of drawings they made themselves.

In return, the pope gave the shelter 10,000 blankets and 2,000 winter coats and wished everyone "a good day and a good lunch."

In his speech to the group, the pope offered his best wishes to the center's clients and to all of their friends who, "coming from almost all the countries of the world," are present in Rome.

The Diocese of Rome reported that the center had served more than 9 million meals since it opened in 1983 and that foreigners have made up the majority of its clients from the beginning, but their percentage is growing.

Foreigners now represent more than 70 percent of the more than 4,500 people who eat at the center each year, the diocese said, and they come from 98 countries.

The vast majority of Italians relying on the center for a hot midday meal are senior citizens, it said.

In the formal program at the complex, which included a brief prayer service, Roberto Festuccia was invited to speak on behalf of his fellow diners.

"Years ago, I lost my parents and was left alone," he said.

"I felt the agony of solitude and indifference. But from the time I started coming to the soup kitchen, I discovered a new family, with many brothers and sisters with whom I can share joys and sorrows," Festuccia said.

He thanked the pope for his visit, saying "your presence makes us feel like you are on our side."