Pope
Francis on Wednesday afternoon met with a group of about 500 young
people from the Diocese of Piacenza-Bobbio in St. Peter’s Basilica.
The
youth are on a pilgrimage which is part of their diocesan celebration of
the Year of Faith.
The Pope began his greetings by explaining why he agreed to the meeting.
“I
did it for selfish reasons, do you know why? Why I like being with you?
… Why I like being with young people?” the Pope asked. “ Because you
have in your heart a promise of hope. You are bearers of hope. You, in
fact, live in the present, but are looking at the future. You are the
protagonists of the future, artisans of the future.”
Explaining what he meant, Pope Francis said young people have “three desires”: Beauty, Goodness, and Truth.
“And
these three desires that you have in your heart, you have to carry them
forward, to the future,” he said. “Make the future with beauty, with
goodness and truth. Do you understand? This is the challenge: your
challenge…you can do it: you have the power to do so. If you do not, it
is because of laziness. … I wanted to tell you: Have courage. Go
forward. Make noise.”
He said making noise means going “against
this civilization that is doing so much harm. Got that? Go against the
tide, and that means making noise. Go ahead. But with the values of
beauty, goodness and truth.”
The bishop of the Diocese of
Piacenza-Bobbio, Gianni Ambrosio, told Vatican Radio what he hoped the
youth would get out of the meeting.
“I told the young people that
this experience must first light our path: knowing that our path is
lit and there are many people who have gone before us, who gave us the
light of faith,” Bishop Ambrosio said.
“Not only that, but also we are
accompanied by the presence of the Risen Christ who is in our midst, and
the Church continues the mission of Jesus, which is to give the
children of God the possibility of a way that leads to the goal, to
salvation.”