Pope urges society: help youth realize their potential

Pope Francis speaking to patients and workersof St. Francis of Assisi hospital in Rio de Janeiro, July 24. (Photo taken from Vatican Radio facebook page.)

HIGHLIGHTING the great potential of young people in creating the future for their own good and that of the world, Pope Francis called on society to help the youth realize the promise inherent in them.
 
In his first World Youth Day as pontiff, Pope Francis joined hundreds of thousands of youth from all over the world gathered in Rio de Janeiro for the 28^th World Youth Day from July 23 until July 28.

“Young people are the window through which the future enters the world,” the Pope said during the welcome ceremonies feted for him at Guanabara Palace on July 22. 

Addressing Brazil’s president Dilma Vana Rousseff Linhares and government officials, Pope Francis spoke of the longings and aspirations of young people in search of truth and authentic love. 

The pope said the present society should be able to provide the youth with necessary help so they can develop their full potential and live their lives as authentic Christians. 

He said society can help realize the potential of young people only if it knows how to give them space. 

The present generation must show “how to create the material and spiritual conditions for their full development; how to give them a solid basis on which to build their lives; how to guarantee their safety and their education to be everything they can be; how to pass on to them lasting values that make life worth living; how to give them a transcendent horizon for their thirst for authentic happiness and their creativity for the good; how to give them the legacy of a world worthy of human life; and how to awaken in them their greatest potential as builders of their own destiny, sharing responsibility for the future of everyone,” Pope Francis said. 

Part of society 

Earlier, while aboard the papal plane enroute to Rio, Pope Francis also expressed the same sentiments to journalists traveling with him. 

He said it is his wish that in meeting the young people in Rio, he would find them not feeling isolated but being a part of the society they lived in.

“Because, when we isolate the young, we do a great injustice: we remove their sense of belonging. The young belong—they belong to family, a homeland, a culture, a faith... they belong in this way, and we must not isolate them! But above all, we must not isolate them from the rest of society.” 

The young have the strength, they go ahead, the pope said. “They are the future of the people.” 

The pope also noted the impact of global crisis on young people, and the “risk of having a generation that has never had a job and work [that] brings the personal dignity of earning a living.” 

But the pope also added that the hope for the future not only lies on the young but also on the elderly and it is important to unite both the strength of the youth and the wisdom and maturity of the old. 

Pope Francis thanked the host city of the WYD for a very warm welcome, even asking for “permission to come and spend this week with you”. 

"I have neither silver nor gold,” he added, “but I bring with me the most precious thing given to me: Jesus Christ!" 

“Christ has confidence in young people,” Pope Francis said, “and entrusts them with the very future of his mission, ‘Go and make disciples’. Go beyond the confines of what is humanly possible and create a world of brothers and sisters!”  

“The arms of the Pope now spread to embrace all of Brazil in its human, cultural and religious complexity and richness. From the Amazon Basin to the pampas, from the dry regions to the Pantanal, from the villages to the great cities, no one is excluded from the Pope’s affection,” he said.  

ECY-Philippines delegation 

At least 355,000 pilgrims from 175 participating countries, including the Philippines, came to join the global youth celebration in Rio. 

The ECY-Philippines, the official country delegation composed of 176 pilgrims represent some 26 dioceses, schools and organizations nationwide. 

Part of the official delegation under the ECY-Philippines is a media team from the CBCP Media Office and Youth Pinoy that cover the youth participants from the Philippines. Their reportage is dispatched through social media, the CBCP Online Radio and posted in the following websites: www.youthpinoy.com, www.wydpinoy.com and www.cbcpnews.com. 

The group also did the coverage of the WYD celebration in Madrid in 2011.