Vatican City, Mar 20, 2018 / 04:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Young people from around the world have begun a meeting at the Vatican by voicing their hopes and expectations from the Church regarding the challenges they face and the questions life poses.
Specifically, they have said they want to know they are taken seriously, and they want the Church to talk to them about difficult issues, among them same-sex marriage, euthanasia and the role of women in the Church.
The young people are delegates to a special pre-synod meeting of youth, which is taking place March 19-24 and has drawn some 300 representatives from around the world to talk about key themes ahead October’s Synod of Bishops on “Young People, Faith and the Discernment of Vocation.”
CNA spoke with several young participants at the pre-synod meeting, hailing from Japan, Australia, Mexico, Iraq and the United States.
They spoke about issues important in their countries of origin, including persecution, the refugee crisis, suicide and drugs.
Australia
For 22-year-old Angelas Markas, a Chaldean Catholic living in Australia, youth need to “move forward, we need to be brave in addressing topics like same-sex marriage, euthanasia, sexuality – what does it mean to embrace our sexuality as Catholics, and the role of women – how important are we, how empowered are we?”
Markas was one of five young people to give testimonies in front of Pope Francis during the March 19 opening session.
In her speech, she highlighted, among other things, her life as part of the Iraqi Chaldean diaspora, her work with indigenous communities in Australia, and her hope that the Church would engage with young people on important issues, especially the role of women, who she said “need to feel our sense of empowerment.”
In comments to CNA, Markas said these are all the topics she wants to discuss during the event, and voiced hope that the stories and experiences she shares “will be embraced.”
On the role of women, Markas said she believes they are already “embraced and empowered” in the Church, but thinks this sense of empowerment should be “more obvious.”
She also spoke of the tragedy of clerical abuse — which has plagued Australia for years and tarnished public perception of the Church — saying that while it is a problem, she trusts the Church “is going to find her path in this.”
“We are a Church of hope, if we aren’t a Church of hope, how are we really going to grow from this?” she said. “We are the witnesses of the Resurrection, so we have to have hope that this will all heal and we have to work toward it.”
Markas also voiced appreciation for Pope Francis’ appeals on behalf of migrants and refugees, which hold special significance for her because of her own heritage. The Pope, she said, “is so great in that he always addresses the littleness, the smallness of the youth from wherever we come from.”
“He’s doing such a brilliant job,” she said. Recalling a brief handshake with Francis after giving her speech, Markas said she was still in disbelief: “I can’t believe I shook his hand and kissed his cheeks, I’m not going to wash my face! It was brilliant.”
Francis has a dynamic way of engaging the youth, she said, noting that many young people still crave connection with the Church, especially those who lack hope or who have experienced suffering or loss.
She challenged the Church to listen and engage more with young people, calling for a “transformation” of approach. This isn’t something that will happen immediately, she said, “but we are meeting this culture that desires to be connected and we need to address it in a more universal and listening way.”
The pre-synod gathering, she said, “is the perfect example” of how this connection and listening can take place. “It’s a real change, it’s not something that is delusional or a fantasy. Young people want to feel a sense of value and purpose, they want to hear and understand and be able to understand.”
Iraq
Shaker Youhanan Zaytouna, a 24-year-old seminarian from Iraq, told journalists March 20 that one of the biggest challenges the local Church faces is that many young people are leaving the country, opting to move abroad due to the threat of extremist violence and the country’s ongoing political instability.
This presents a unique challenge for the future of the country, he said, explaining that “it’s very hard to tell the Church to not allow youth to leave Iraq.” Security is a big problem, he said, because one can ask the youth to stay, but there’s no guarantee that they won’t be killed later.
A Chaldean Catholic studying in Rome, Zaytouna said the Church has a big role to play in encouraging youth to stay in Iraq and helping provide the conditions for them to stay. However, “the problem is that the government needs to initiate this step.”
Iraqi youth are being welcomed into other countries, but many want to return, he said. “[And] if the government isn’t helping the heart, if they aren’t providing that security, how can these youth return?” he said, adding that finding work is also a problem for many young families.
The seminarian also voiced concern over the fact that many young people, from various religions, are becoming either atheist or agnostic, calling it “a [big] a problem” for the future that will have to be addressed.
He also touched on the topic of vocations, saying the Church “must commit herself more to listening…and not only, but to learn to accompany.”
Noting that he is still a young seminarian himself, Zaytouna said better accompaniment is needed, because “if the bishop doesn’t accompany us, if the priests don’t accompany us, or someone else, how can I stay on this path?”
At times parents try to prevent children from pursuing consecrated vocations, he said, noting there are cultural pressures that make it difficult to accept or follow such callings. However, he said there have also been times when formators pressure someone discerning, telling them they are not cut out for religious life.
Those discerning need to be encouraged and accompanied, Zaytouna said, explaining that “listening comes first; learn to listen, accompaniment comes and then the discernment.”
Japan
Also participating in the pre-synod meeting is Yoshikazu Tsumuraya, a Japanese Buddhist from Fukushima who currently lives in Rome and works with the Japanese Buddhist Lay Movement. Before coming to Rome, he taught in a Buddhist seminary.
In comments to CNA, Tsumuraya said his organization has strong ties with the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and was invited to participate in the meeting as a representative of the Buddhist community.
“When I received this invitation, I was really happy, because having a knowledge of Christianity, it pushed me to get to know Christian youth,” Tsumuraya said, explaining that he has worked with a lot of Christians and is very committed to interreligious dialogue.
Tsumuraya said he came primarily to listen and understand the different realities of youth from around the world.
In the case of Japan, he said the major challenges for youth are a widespread competitive and consumerist mentality, as well as the immense cultural pressure to be successful. And if youth don’t give into this way of thinking, they might feel estranged from their peers or that they don’t fit in, Tsumuraya said.
In cases when this happens, young people react in a variety of ways, he said, explaining that one big problem is that youth who feel that they don’t quite fit in “are no longer able to go to school,” due to the stigma they face, “so they stay home closed in their rooms.”
Other major problems for Japanese youth are premature death due to “excessive work,” he said, as well as suicide, which is a common phenomenon among teenagers in the country.
Tsumuraya voiced appreciation for Pope Francis’ frequent references to the problem of teen and young adult suicide, which “is not just a Japanese problem, but it’s a global problem.”
“So thinking about this phenomena which affects the whole world, we must face it, above all in knowing the reality, then to think about how to accompany youth to avoid this terrible [phenomena],” he said.
The Americas
Nicholas Lopez, a 27-year-old campus minister from Dallas, Texas, is also participating in the meeting as one of three representatives from the United States.
Lopez gave his testimony during the opening session, pointing to various challenges young people have faced during his experience working with youth on campus.
In comments to CNA, Lopez said the major topics he wants to bring to the table during the pre-synod meeting are “the concerns of the Hispanic Americans in the United States, and the solidarity between us and them.”
The topic is particularly timely in the U.S. as concerns continue to mount over President Donald Trump’s strict immigration policies. Many, including a high number of college students whose parents are immigrants, have voiced fear about deportation.
In addition to issues affecting the Hispanic community, Lopez said he also plans to discuss mental health issues, the higher education system in the United States and “the way young people are impacted on college campuses.”
Also participating in the meeting is 25-year-old Corina Fiore Mortola Rodriguez of Mexico. She came with a large group of other youth from Latin America, which is one of the youngest and most Catholic continents in the world.
In comments to CNA, Mortola Rodriguez said the message she wants the Church to hear this week is that young people like herself are “valid interlocutors,” and they need to be listened to and helped to go deeper in finding solutions to the problems they face, such as drugs, violence, poverty and unemployment.
Pointing to Pope Francis’ visit to Mexico in 2016, she said his encouragement to youth and his appeals to avoid hopelessness and the allure of gangs was “a call not of tension, but to action.”
Her reflection echoed the Pope’s March 19 opening speech, in which he told youth they need to approach problems with a “head, heart, hands” mentality. The call to “think, feel and act,” Mortola Rodriguez said, is also a call to be “unified” and to make concrete resolutions in confronting the problems they face.
As an example, Mortola Rodriguez said she helps lead a theater workshop for incarcerated youth in Mexico, which has helped them to “heal the wounds that have caused through the crime they committed.”
“[Through us] they can heal this pain that they have in order to be able to return to society and find a new form of work,” because healing is essential for a person’s reintegration into society, she said.
Speaking of the contribution of the Latin American Church, Mortola Rodriguez said one thing she hopes her continent can offer the universal Church is “joy,” because Latin Americans are “ known for our joy.”
“I think youth should be more joyful,” she said, and noted how there are many young people who reflect what Pope Francis says when he talks about youth who seem old because they have lost their joy and happiness.
Another topic Mortola Rodriguez said she wants to discuss is vocation, because many people think of their vocations as only the choice of a state of life.
“But no. The vocation is a call, a call today, to the present, to be active, to be happy and to do concrete actions that benefit my society,” she said, and voiced her desire to fight against social evils such as human trafficking, and to fight to “stop the things that harm us.”
[…]
With all due respect,
Why does Pope Francis continue to grant interviews to Eugenio Scalfari, the atheist journalist at “La Repubblica,” when every time Scalfari supposedly either misconstrues the conversation or flatly lies?
Wouldn’t the Cardinal Virtue of Prudence and common sense dictate to Pope Francis that he should avoid such traps?
And why doesn’t the Pope himself make a statement denying Scalfari’s allegations?
To me a certain pattern has become clear that Pope Francis never directly answers those who put words in his mouth, his accusers or those who question him even if they do so in all sincerity and with the utmost respect and charity.
After all, the “Dubia” Cardinals are still waiting for their response!
And what does an orthodox Catholic make of the clearly “pagan ceremony” at which Pope Francis presided in the Vatican Gardens on October 4, 2019 in the the lead up to the Amazon Synod?
Is there any Trinitarian or Christological justification for such a “pagan ceremony”?
The Fathers of the Church and missionary greats like Saint Bonaface would have condemned such an act as idolatrous, a clear violation of the First Commandment of the Dialogue.
Recall that St. Boniface himself chopped down the oak tree worshipped by the pagan Germans; and he didn’t dig holes in order to plant new ones!
If a baptized believer cannot obey the First Commandment, then can he or she cannot be a true Catholic-Christian.
There is no clause in the Decalogue exempting Popes!
This is clear from the teachings of Sacred Scripture and from Paragraphs 2084-2141 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
I think the Pope’s actions on October 4, 2019 should be judged in light of CCC 2110-2117.
Just as the words and deeds of Christ go together, so too must the words and deeds of His Vicar on Earth be treated as integral.
Surely, no one can stand in judgment of the Pope but God alone.
But this means that only God alone can judge the Pope’s soul.
This doesn’t mean that Catholics let alone Cardinals, Bishops, Priests and Theologians cannot criticize and/or condemn errant words and misdeeds of any given Pope at any given time.
We recall that St. Paul adamantly rebuked St. Peter face, accusing him of hypocrisy.
And St. Paul was right!
St. Peter, the First Pope, however, had the humility through God’s grace to accept the correction and to shepherd the Church forward in the right path.
Pope Francis says that he welcomes open criticism, but then ignores it and in some cases punishes those who out of charity and love of the truth proffer it to him (see the cases of Cardinals Burke and Müller).
In 1968, the embattled Pontiff, Paul VI, recognizing and lamenting the sad state of affairs in the Church, made a solemn profession of faith, the so-called “Credo of the People of God.”
I, for one, lament that this “Credo,” is not an appendix to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or at least included in the Compendium of the Catechism.
In any case, given the worse upheaval and confusion being generated in the contemporary Catholic Church, much of which is emanates from the Vatican now engulfed by the heretical and apostate Amazon Synod, is not perhaps incumbent on Pope Francis to make a similar Profession of Faith for the common good of the universal Church?
But logic suggests that we, orthodox Catholics, cannot have a reasonable hope in this happening since Pope Francis has not deigned to answer even the simple and straightforward “Dubia” (five questions) of the four Cardinals, two of whom are now deceased.
One must recall that according to Dogmatic Constitution of the Word of God (Dei Verbum) of the Second Vatican Council that the Magisterium is not the Master of the Divine Word but its servant.
And, even more fundamentally, we must recall that Our Blessed Lord told St. Peter that once he had turned (i.e. repented of his predicted three-fold denial) that he would strengthen (confirm) his brethren (fellow Apostles).
Is not the primary role of the Pope to confirm his brethren in the Faith?
If the Pope refuses to confirm us, his brothers and sisters in Christ through Baptism in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Faith, then does not the Sacred College of Cardinals have a fiduciary role according to Canon Law to depose such a Pope — electing in his place a suitable replacement as happened in the Acts of the Apostles when the Eleven Disciples who remained faithful to their Lord and Master elected St. Matthias to take the place of Judas Iscariot, who had betrayed Him?
Doctors of the Church, like St. Robert Bellarmine and St. Alphonus Marie de Liguori, not to mention great theologians like Cajetan, concur that a Pope who falls into “manifest heresy” automatically (“ipso facto”) ceases to be the legitimate Pope for one cannot be the head of the Mystical Body of Christ when one has ceased to be a member thereof.
Given that the sin of apostasy is far graver than the sin of heresy, should not the Sacred College of Cardinals convene to discuss whether or not Pope Francis has indeed fallen not only into “manifest heresy” but into apostasy, and therefore has “ipso facto” ceased to be the legitimate Pope, and this irrespective of whether his canonical election was valid or not?
In conclusion, in a recent interview, Robert Cardinal Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, remarked to the effect that those “who oppose the Pope [Francis]” are “automatically excommunicated.”
On the other hand, the respected theologian, Fr. Thomas Weinandy, wrote an article for “Crisis” in which he posits the surreal notion that Pope Francis may be in “schism” with himself.
Which one is it?
One can’t have his cake and eat too.
Furthermore, is there not a serious risk here of turning into Pharisees who strained out gnats and swallowed camels unto their own condemnation and the demise of Chosen People, Israel?
Don’t Catholics deserve better than all this confusion twice confounded?
Is not the Supreme Law (“Suprema Lex”) of the Church the Salvation of Souls (“Salus Animarum”)?
It seems this has been totally forgotten.
And what about the immortal soul of Pope Francis?
Does anyone have any concern for his salvation?
Or have we somehow convinced ourselves that Popes when they die receive an automatic get out jail for free card or an automatic ticket to ride to the pearly gates?
As Archbishop Viganò reflected there exists a true and undeniable crisis in the contemporary Church, a serious deficiency of “supernatural faith” among many who hold the highest positions of power and authority in the Church’s hierarchy.
From my perspective, this truth is eminently evident at the present Amazon Synod which isn’t even a week old yet and has kicked up quite a storm for all the world, including non-believers and non-Catholic Christians, to behold in horror.
Have not enough good and faithful Catholics, with eyes to see and ears to hear, been scandalized enough?
For the love of God, do not orthodox Catholics, laity and clergy alike, deserve clarity from the See of Peter let alone from the Princes of the Church and the Successors of the Apostles?
Or, should faithful, orthodox Catholics be content to bury their heads in the sand, act like “Chinese Monkeys,” wallowing in the murky mud of Modernism until the Immaculate Heart of Mary finally triumphs and Our Lord returns in glory to judge us all including His creature, Jorge Mario Bergoglio?
P.S. Please excuse any grammatical errors and/or typos.
@NICHOLAS GREGORIS, Judging by your comments you seem to be a Pharisee residing within the Catholic Church. You seem to be in love with the politics and legal structure of the Catholic Church and have forgotten the original message of Father God and His Son Christ Jesus. I don’t remember Christ in His 3 years of ministry covering any of the topics you raise? Was it in His Sermon on the Mount? I think not. Did St Paul cover any of the issues you raise in His Epistles?
Why the continual reference to the Catechism. The Catechism is not inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, its just at its best, a summary of Faith. The Catechism is a collection of the rules, regulations of the Church, to make it more than that is an affront to God, who left His guiding instructions and His plan for Man’s Salvation, in the Written Word of God, the Bible.
You totally ignore, the Written Word of God, and how the conversations of the two men fit within its framework. In my short lifetime, I have seen major changes in the contents of the Catechism, but the written word of God never changes.
I am dishearten by your response, at a time when the Church is on its knees, its leaderless, the Faithful have left in droves, Churches are now empty, Priests, are leaving, being defrocked, placed in jail, the Church is paying mega settlements to victims of predator priests. Your focus about Canon law, heresy and apostasy, within the Church seems to be a waste of time and meaningless even on a good day, but totally misguided in light of the severe problems facing the Church.
How about getting back to the simple message of the Father that Christ taught in His 3 year ministry on Earth and be focused on God’s salvation plan for Man. Its 2000 years after Christ death, resurrection and ascension, its about time Catholics discover the Written Word of God and His Plan for mankind.
Pretty good and accurate comment. Praise the Lord. One thing jumped out at me. It is stated that St. Peter responded with humility to criticism from St. Paul. Pope Francis should do likewise but he won’t.
If, as the Vatican has officially acknowledged Scalfari’s papal utterances ” . . . As already stated on other occasions . . .cannot be considered a faithful account of what was said . . ” by the Holy Father, . . then why, . . why. . . does he agree to these interviews by this man ? Is Pope Francis not know , or care about the constant accusations of spreading confusion ???
Well, look. The reason people find Scalfari’s claims credible is because they’re exactly the kind of thing they suspect this pope might say in private. All the increasingly desperate diversions about Scalfari’s purported “unreliability” or (even more improbably) his ignorance of Catholic teaching are just wind, unless and until the pope himself makes a clear statement disavowing the explicit propositions attributed to him.
Is Jesus Christ the Second Person of the Triune Oneness truly incarnate (not merely “another existent, but the very appearance of Being itself,” von Balathasar) or only one of several existent manifestations possibly to be aggregated under a common heading, say, “fraternity”?
Clarifying the unfortunate and levelized “pluralism” of religions at the head of the Abu Dhabi Declaration, February 14, 2019 (barely two or three words), we find the following from Cardinal Raniero Contalamessa, preacher of the papal household, in his recent “Good Friday Homily for 2021.” He affirms and repeats Christ as the wellspring, by quoting Pope Francis:
“Others drink from other sources. For us, the wellspring of human dignity and fraternity is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. From it, there arises, ‘for Christian thought and for the action of the Church, the primacy given to relationship, to the encounter with the sacred mystery of the other, to universal communion with the entire human family, as a vocation of all’” (Fratelli tutti, October 3, 2020, n. 277, the internal quote is from Lectio Divina meditations of March 26, 2019).
The burden of the Second Vatican Council, as again explained in Peter Seewald’s new biography of Benedict XVI and his influence, was/is to better engage the world (aggiornamento) by returning to sources (ressourcement) in such a way that evangelization is focused on the actual event in human history of the Incarnation as “the appearance of Being itself” (above), at the center of even Scripture or Tradition understood more as secondary words about the actual “Word made flesh.”
Did Pope Francis say…
The Vatican says…
There would be a simple, obvious way out: Pope Francis himself clarifies the point… but he never clarifies anything.
“Chi tace acconsente” we say in Italy, “if one doesn’t reply, he agrees”.
I pray for the Holy Father. He is my Pope and I love the Church. Looking back now on these multiple interviews he has done with Scalfari it’s clear they had a purpose. Ross Douthat(writer) believes he used these interviews to test the reaction to issues in the Church. I think it’s more serious than that. It’s just my opinion, but I believe Scalfari wasn’t mistaken about Pope Francis’s views. They are friends and have been for years. Pope Francis continued to allow him access despite these “misunderstandings”. When someone is telling you who they are believe them. Pope Francis is telling us who he is. If he doesn’t believe these statements then stop giving Scalfari continuous access. The reason The Holy Father didn’t stop the access is he wanted those statements released. He believes them.