ROME (ITALPRESS) – “Hope does not disappoint! Listen well to this: hope does not disappoint. Never. With these words I called for the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025. I was pleased to read from your ‘Fourth Survey of the Trust Index’ that hope is the inner attitude in which young Italians today identify themselves most. We often meet people who are discouraged because they look at the future with skepticism and pessimism. Those people with a long face, like that — pessimism. So it is important to know that young Italians know how to be artisans of hope because they are capable of dreaming. Please don’t lose the ability to dream: when a young person loses this ability, I’m not saying he becomes old, no, because old people dream. He becomes a ‘pensioner of life. This is very bad. Please, young people, don’t be ‘vity pensioners, and don’t let hope be stolen from you! Never! Hope never disappoints!” Thus Pope Francis, in his address to the members of the National Youth Council, at the Consistory Hall, in the Vatican, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of this body. “In dialogue with the institutions,” the Pontiff stressed, “you are the consultative body called to represent the world of youth at the local, national and European levels. And to this end you must promote the active participation of young people, making ‘retè among the many associative realities inspired by values such as solidarity and inclusion. By making ‘retè, but also by making ‘chiassò. This is very important. In this task – of making ‘retè and making ‘chiassò – I invite you to be a voice for everyone, especially for those who have no voice. And today there are so many people who have no voice, so many who are excluded, not only socially, because of the problems of poverty, lack of education, drug dictatorship… but also of those who do not know how to dream. To make ‘retè to dream, and not to lose this ability. To dream.””As we know – also from the news of these days – the challenges that concern you are many: the dignity of work, the family, education, civic commitment, care for creation and new technologies,” Pope Francis continued. “The increase in acts of violence and self-harm, up to the most extreme gesture of taking one’s own life, are signs of a worrying and complex malaise. You know that, in the world, youth suicides are not all published, they are hidden. It is a change of epoch, a metamorphosis not only cultural but also anthropological. That is why an educational journey that involves everyone is essential. I can say that we need an ‘education village’ where, in diversity, we share a commitment to generate a network of human and open relationships. What is needed is a pact, an alliance, between those who wish to put the person at the center and, at the same time, are willing to invest new energies in the formation of those who will be at the service of the community. “You are called to be witnesses of the beauty and novelty of life,” the Holy Father added. There is a beauty that goes beyond appearances: it is that of every man and woman who live their personal vocation with love, in selfless service to the community, in generous work for the happiness of the family, in gratuitous commitment to make social friendship grow. To discover, show and highlight this beauty is to lay the foundation for social solidarity and the culture of encounter. Your selfless service for truth and freedom, for justice and peace, for family and politics is the most beautiful and most necessary contribution you can make to institutions for building a new society. And this is not done with ideas, it is done with human capacities, all our capacities, without forgetting the extremes of life. These are two things I will leave as questions: some of you — are you married, do you have children — do you know how to play with children? Are you people capable of losing the time to play with your children, or with your grandchildren? Are you people capable of this? This ability of play, And then, another question: are you capable of petting an elderly person? Playing with children and caressing old people. And today, in our culture, children are left to grow up alone, without tenderness, and old people are sent to nursing homes, for them to die there… We have to change: play with children and caress old people. And this will make your youth fruitful. Don’t forget this: children and old people. “Allow me, finally, to deliver to you,” Pope Francis says, “the most important thing, that truth that for a Christian should never be silent. It is a proclamation that concerns everyone, young and old, and that we always need to hear again: ‘God loves you, saì, ‘Christ will save you, ‘He lives!’ If He lives, then hope is not in vain. Evil, pessimism, skepticism will not have the last word. And so many young people fall into this skepticism, also supported by drugs. At the beginning of being a Christian there is not an ethical decision or a big idea, but there is the encounter with a Person, the encounter with Jesus, who gives life a new horizon. Hope, the state of mind in which young Italians recognize themselves most today, for us Christians has a name and a face: the face of the Lord, the face of Jesus.” “In the face of the challenges and difficulties you may encounter in your work, do not be afraid! Do not be afraid to go through conflicts as well. Conflicts make us grow. But do not forget,” the Pope concludes, “that conflict is like a labyrinth: from the labyrinth we cannot get out alone, we get out in the company of another who helps us. First. And from the labyrinth you get out from above. Let others help you. And always look up so that life is not a labyrinthine ride, which kills youth. To grow old in a labyrinth is to grow old in superficial values. It is sad to see a man or woman, young, living his or her life in superficiality. It is very sad…. It takes, in your life–even to go through conflicts–you need the patience to turn them into the ability to listen, to recognize the other, to grow with each other. Trying to get through conflicts is a sign that we have aimed higher, higher than our special interests, to get out of the quicksand of social enmity. Go forth in your service: seeking, guarding and bringing the voice and hope of young Italians to the institutional venues to participate together for the common good.”- photo Agenzia Fotogramma -(ITALPRESS).
