(Vatican Radio) With just eight months to go until the Youth of the World descend
on Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, Pope Benedict on Friday released his message for World
Youth Day 2013 which has as its theme “Go and make disciples of all nations!” In the
text divided into eight parts the Pope offers fatherly advice and encouragement to
young people preparing for this great event calling on them to become disciples of
Christ in this important year of Faith.
Beginning the message with “Dear Young
Friends” the Holy Father recalls the celebrated statue of Christ the Redeemer over
Rio De Janeiro saying that Christ’s open arms are a symbol of his “willingness to
embrace all those who come to him.”
The Pope sends out a clarion call to the
young people to build with enthusiasm a better world, a world that has seen many technical
advances, but also a world, he points out, that needs to be founded on love rather
than materialism.
The Holy Father goes on to urge young Christians to go out
and be missionaries of evangelisation and to use the wonderful gifts God has given
them to transmit the workings of the faith. The sacraments and prayer, he says are
your foundation in this.
Offering words of encouraging and demonstrating his
understanding of the problems young people face, Pope Benedict invites them to let
“love overcome the tendency to remain enclosed in their own world with their own problems
and habits. Have the courage, he says, “to “go out” from yourselves in order to
“go forth” towards others and to show them the way to an encounter with God.”
New
media also comes under the spotlight in this message with the Holy Father focusing
his attention on young peoples affinity for these methods of communication, saying
that it falls to them to use new media in order to evangelise but and the same time
cautioning them to use these means wisely. The Pope emphasises that young people
are the future of the Church by saying that young priests, religious and lay people
are highly valued, before adding “each of you, is a precious piece in the great mosaic
of evangelization!” Pope Benedict ends his message very much as he began it focusing
on Rio ‘s Christ the Redeemer statue which he says is a sign that the heart of Jesus
is open with love for each and every person. Finally, the Holy Father calls on young
Christians, especially those in Latin America to go forth and bear witness to Christ’s
love and be a new generation following in the footsteps of the Church’s great missionaries.
Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s report