Pope Francis, in his usual weekly audience on Wednesdays, once again thanked Portugal for organizing World Youth Day. In an intervention of almost ten minutes, the Pope praised the organization and said that the meeting showed that it is possible to have a better world.
“Young people in Portugal are already a vital presence today. Now, after this passage of churches around the world, there will be even more. Many young people have come to Rome and even here there are some who participated in this Day. World Youth Day showed everyone that a new world is possible, a world of sisters and brothers where the flags of all peoples fly together, without hatred, without fear, without confinement, without weapons,” the Pope said.
The Pope also thanked the Portuguese entities and asked for a special blessing.
“Thank you all. Through the intervention of the Virgin Marisa, Lord, bless the youth of the whole world and the Portuguese people. Let us all pray together to the Virgin so that she blesses the Portuguese people”, Francisco thanked.
In the same speech, Pope Francis later questioned whether the “clear message of young people” will be heard by “the great ones of the earth.”
“We hope that the whole world listens to them and sees that they are advancing,” he added, stating that WYD showed that “an alternative to war” was possible.
Francis also addressed a few words of encouragement to the Ukrainian people: “Many of you go on a pilgrimage to Jasna Góra (Poland) and other Marian sanctuaries, for this reason I entrust to you a desire that I carry in my heart: the desire for peace in the world (. ..) pray for this priceless gift, especially for the beloved and tormented Ukraine”.
The Pope also assured that during his trip to Fatima he prayed for peace.
“During WYD I returned to Fatima, to the place of the apparition, and together with some young sick people I prayed for God to heal the world of diseases of the soul: pride, lies, enmity, violence. The world is sick with these diseases,” he said.
“I prayed for peace, because there are so many wars in all parts of the world,” he added in what was the first general audience after the July recess.
The Pope had already announced, during the flight back to Italy, that when he was in the sanctuary of Fatima -where he did not read the speech or the prayer he had prepared-, despite the fact that a public call for peace was expected, he decided do quietly and without publicity.
He also said that he met “a group of young Ukrainians who brought stories of pain” to WYD, adding that the meeting was “not a vacation trip, a tourist trip, but an encounter with Christ.”
After assuring that “his health is fine” and that he does not have vision problems, he said that he has cut or not read the speeches in some WYD events to better communicate with young people.
WYD in Lisbon ended on Sunday, the same day that Pope Francis, who arrived in Portugal on Wednesday, returned to the Vatican. The largest event of the Catholic Church brought together around 1.5 million young people in Parque Tejo, in Lisbon, for a mass and a vigil, with the presence of Pope Francis.
The announcement of the election of Lisbon was made on January 27, 2019, at the closing Mass of WYD in Panama City, by the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. This Dicastery is the Vatican body that organizes WYD with a local committee.
The next WYD will take place four years from now in Seoul, South Korea.
Source: TSF
