Pope urges Rome and regional administrations to do more for needy, especially youth
(January 12, 2009) Pope Benedict XVI on Monday urged officials of the administrations
of Rome city and province as well as of Italy’s Lazio region to combine efforts with
Church institutions at this moment of global economic crisis, to bring adequate help
to the needy, especially the young people. “I am thinking of families, especially
those with small children who have the right to a serene future, and old people, many
of whom live in solitude and difficult conditions,” he told the officials in a traditional
New Year meeting in the Vatican. The Pope said he was also thinking about the housing
and job crisis, particularly unemployed youth, an uneasy coexistence among diverse
ethnic groups and the great question of immigration and of nomads. Pope Benedict
focussed particularly on the problem of youth, saying whenever he hears news of youth
violence or road accidents in which many youth die, he thinks of the emergency of
education which calls for broader cooperation. Pope Benedict spoke of the weakening
of natural and Christian values among the young, and instead the emergence of transitory
desires, which ultimately lead to boredom and failure. The harmful result of all
these, he said, is the tendency to trivialize the value of life in order to seek refuge
in transgression, drugs and alcohol, which for some have become a weekend habit.
Love risks being reduced to becoming a mere object that can be bought and sold, or
rather man himself has become a commodity, the Pope warned. Faced with growing nihilism
that is sweeping the world of youth, Pope Benedict said, the Church invites all to
dedicate themselves seriously to youth, so that they are not left to themselves, exposed
to the so-called “bad teachers”, but rather are helped to commit themselves in serious
initiatives that will lead them to understand the value of life in a family based
on marriage.