Pope tells Latin American Church to care for its youth
February 28, 2014 - Pope Francis on Friday urged the Latin American Church to face
with decision the challenges that young people raise, and not delude them, but to
educate and evangelize them, making them into missionary disciples. This is a difficult
and patient task but urgent and necessary, the Pope told in his message to the members
of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America whom he met in the Vatican. The commission
that operates under the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops, held its plenary assembly
this week on the theme: Educational Emergency and the Transmission of the Faith to
Latin American Youth.
Besides handing the members a written message, Pope
spoke off the cuff on issues such as compulsive gambling, euthanasia and drugs that
destroy the young. Taking cue from his experience at the World Youth Day meet in Brazil
last July, the Pope said that in imitation of Christ, the Church must respect the
youth and commit itself to service, selfless love, fight for justice and truth.
In this regard, the Holy Father particularly called for three attitudes – namely,
accepting them, listening to them and inviting them to follow Jesus. He called the
Church to search for the young people everywhere – school, family, work – particularly
attentive to their needs and aspirations, serious problems of some, such school dropout,
joblessness, loneliness and broken families. He urged the Church to transform them
into Christ’s disciples, saying the Church cannot waste the treasure of youth with
all their potentialities for the development of society, and their great yearning
to form a great family of brothers and sisters in love. (Source: CNS)