All pastoral work, including promoting social justice and providing for the poor, must be nourished by prayer, Pope Benedict said.

Without contemplating and internalizing God's word daily, one risks being suffocated by too heavy a workload and one's heart risks hardening to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, he said.

"Charity and justice are not just social action but are spiritual action realized in the light of the Holy Spirit," he said during the general audience in St. Peter's Square April 25.