Here is the miracle that now paves the way for Pier Giorgio Frassati’s canonization

Vatican City, Dec 12, 2019 / 04:56 pm (CNA).- The Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life held an international symposium this week on medical ethics and palliative care, hosted together with the WISH initiative, a part of the Qatar Foundation.

Th… […]

Pope John Paul II’s helicopter flies over the huge crowd in Manila’s Luneta Park prior to celebrating an open-air mass for an estimated two-million people gathered for the 10th World Youth Day on Jan. 15, 1995. / Credit: JUN DAGMANG/AFP via Getty Images

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 11, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Nearly 40 years ago, an event was held in Rome that laid the foundations for what today is World Youth Day (WYD). On April 14, 1984, Pope John Paul II met in Rome with 300,000 young people from all over the world who were hosted by some 6,000 Roman families.

WYD is an encounter of young people from all over the world with the pope that takes place every two or three years in different cities around the world. The first one took place in Rome in 1986. Since then, the fruits of each WYD have flowed: conversions, vocations discovered, and even alleged miracles.

The seminal event was part of the 1984 Holy Year of Redemption, held near Palm Sunday. On that occasion, the pope told the assembled young people that “the real problem of life is, in fact, that of verifying, first of all, what is the place of youth in the present world.”

St. John Paul II then addressed each of those present personally, explaining that young people are called to make the love and message of Jesus Christ present in each of their own lives.

“If you know how to look at the world with the new eyes that faith gives you, then you will know how to face it with your hands outstretched in a gesture of love. You will be able to discover in it, in the midst of so much misery and injustice, unsuspected presences of goodness, fascinating perspectives of beauty, well-founded reasons for hope in a better tomorrow,” he told them.

The Holy Father stressed that that this can only be achieved through a deeply rooted faith in Jesus.

“True strength lies in Christ, the redeemer of the world! This is the central point of the whole discourse. And this is the moment to ask the crucial question: This Jesus who was young like you, who lived in an exemplary family and knew the world of men in depth, who is he for you?” the pope asked.

At that time, St. John Paul II presented the famous “Youth Cross” to the organizers of the event, with the mission of taking it throughout the world “as a sign and reminder that only in the dead and risen Jesus is there salvation and redemption.” 

This wooden cross has become a symbol of WYD, traveling throughout the dioceses of the world and in all the places where the event takes place.

The cross is kept today by the San Lorenzo International Youth Center (CSL), which together with the sponsorship of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family, and Life and the John Paul II Foundation for Youth, have organized a series of events to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this first encounter of the Polish pope with young people.

On April 13, the “Youth Cross” will go on a pilgrimage from St. Peter’s Square to the CSL and a Mass will be celebrated by Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça. The day will conclude with a prayer vigil and adoration of the cross, known as “Rise Up.”

On Sunday, April 14, Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik, prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, will offer the Mass and later there will be a time for young people to give their testimonies.

The San Lorenzo International Youth Center is a reception and information center for young pilgrims in Rome as well as a place of prayer. It also serves as headquarters for making preparations for World Youth Days.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Vatican City, Dec 16, 2019 / 11:00 am (CNA).- The elderly are crucial to a society that is respectful of the rights of all, Pope Francis told leaders and members of Italy’s National Association of Elderly Workers on Monday. Speaking at an audience commemorating the 70th anniversary of the organization’s founding, the pope said that “communion” among generations is vital for human dignity and a healthy society.

“Older people, on a social level, should not be considered as a burden, but for what they really are, that is, a resource and a wealth,” said Pope Francis. The elderly, he said, are “a memory of the people,” and valuable contributors to society.

“The biggest challenge that society will face in the coming years is to promote ever more effectively the human resources of the elderly within the community,” he said. The elderly have a “wisdom and experience,” that is key to creating “a world that is more respectful of everyone’s rights.” 

The pope also highlighted the great contribution made through the eldarly’s ability and time to engage in volunteer work, something which benefits both the eldarly themselves and society as a whole. 

Francis praised the benefits of what he called “active aging” in helping to provide people continued dignity in their active lives and noted the importance of fostering a “community of solidarity” among generations. 

“The dreams of the elderly are imbued with memory, and therefore fundamental for the journey of the young, because they are the roots,” he said. The elderly are a “sap” that enable the young people to grow. 

Old age, said the pope, should be viewed as a “season of dialogue” between the old and the young. 

“The future of a people necessarily presupposes a dialogue and an encounter between the elderly and the young for the construction of a more just, more beautiful, more supportive, more Christian society,” he said. “Young people are the strength of the journey of a people and the elderly reinvigorate this force with memory and wisdom.”

He added that the elderly, particularly grandparents, have a “unique and special ability” to handle difficult situations. 

“And when they pray for these situations, their prayer is strong, it’s powerful,” he said. Grandparents, “are entrusted with a great task: to transmit the experience of life, the story of a family, a community, a people.”

The pope also condemned caricatures of the eldarly as “sick, disabled, dependent, isolated, besieged by fears, left aside, and with a weak identity.” Instead, he said, old age should be viewed as a “season of gift and the season of dialogue” and repeated his condemnation of a culture that treats people as disposable resources – old or young.

“Unfortunately, many times young people are discarded, because they have no work, and the elderly are discarded with the pretense of maintaining a ‘balanced’ economic system, at the center of which there is not the human person, but money,” said Francis, adding, “And this is wrong.”

The future, he said, would consist of a dialogue between young people and the elderly. Everyone is “called to counter this poisonous culture of waste,” and that if grandparents do not communicate with their grandchildren, “there will be no future.” 

With these dialogues, society will become more welcoming, human, and inclusive, a society “which does not need to discard those who are weak in body and mind,” he said. 

“This dialogue is the future!”

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