Pope Urges Youth to Free Truth

(23 Feb 08 - RV ) Pope Benedict XVI urged young people to "free the patrimony of Christ's truth from lies and distortions" Saturday.

Thousands of children and teenagers from Rome’s schools and parishes flooded St Peter’s Square Saturday to meet with Pope Benedict XVI, and hear him speak of the urgency and necessity of a solid, value-based education in today’s materialistic world.

They were also there to receive the Pope’s January letter to Rome parishes and institutions on the need to find adequate solutions to the emergency facing Italy’s, and in particular, Rome’s educational system.

Pope Benedict described the crowds presence as a response to “those educational concerns which are increasingly evident for parents, teachers and pupils. Concerns highlighted by the current crises in schooling, and the fear in many young people of being left alone to face life’s great challenges”.

Pope Benedict said that the most delicate aspect of education is finding the right balance between freedom and discipline. But that a “truly successful education”, will help young people know “how to use freedom wisely. Thus parents and teachers should remain “attentive to correct mistaken ideas and choices”.

The Holy Father spoke to each individual category, starting with parents, telling them that the “greatest gift” they can give their children “is to remain forever solid in their shared love”, so children may learn what “real and generous love” means. Parents he said must be “coherent educators, firm when necessary to temper their children’s characters and help them to clearly distinguish good from evil, so they may face future trials with a solid moral base” .

The Holy Father appealed to teachers not to “limit themselves to merely providing notions and information, leaving the great questions regarding truth to one side”. Teaching , he continued “means satisfying the desire for knowledge… above all the desire for the knowledge of that Truth which can be a life’s guide and which is rooted in the Gospel”.
 In his January letter the Pope notes, that at the root of the crisis of education, lies a crisis of trust in life, which is keenly felt by the younger generation.

His last words Saturday were for the thousands of young people gathered before him. He told them “you are the architects of your own moral, cultural and spiritual growth. It is up to you to freely welcome into your hearts, your intelligence and your life the patrimony of beauty, goodness and truth that has been formed down through the centuries and that has Christ as its bedrock”.
“It is up to you to further develop this patrimony, freeing it from the lies and distortions which make it unrecognisable and which provoke your distrust and disappointment”. Pope Benedict concluded “Know that in this difficult journey you are not alone, there are many close to you, parents, teachers and friends, but above all God, who created us and hosts our heart’s secrets”.