  A phenomenological Dyson-Schwinger equation approach to QCD, formalised in
terms of a QCD based model field theory, is used to calculate the
electromagnetic charge radius of the pion. The contributions from the quark
core and pion loop, as defined in this approach, are identified and compared.
It is shown explicitly that the divergence of the charge radius in the chiral
limit is due to the pion loop and that, at the physical value of the pion mass,
this loop contributes less than 15\% to $\langle r^2_\pi\rangle$; i.e. the
quark core is the dominant determining characteristic for the pion. This
suggests that quark based models which fail to reproduce the $\ln\,m_\pi$
divergence of $\langle r^2_\pi\rangle$ may nevertheless incorporate the
dominant characteristic of the pion: its quark core.
