Youth from Europe and around the world turned out in massive numbers this week to celebrate their Catholic faith and to see the new Pope.
More than 1 million Roman Catholic young people who had camped out overnight in an enormous field welcomed Benedict XVI on Sunday for the concluding Mass of his four-day trip to Germany, his first foreign travel as pope.As he began his homily, calling on the pilgrims and visitors to World Youth Day to make wise use of the freedom God had given them, the sun broke through the thick, gray clouds.
“Freedom is not simply about enjoying life in total autonomy, but rather about living by the measure of truth and goodness so that we ourselves can become true and good,” he said.
He said there is a “strange forgetfulness of God,” while at same time the sense of frustration and dissatisfaction has led to a “new explosion of religion.”
“I have no wish to discredit all the manifestations of this phenomenon. There may be sincere joy in the discovery,” he said. “Yet, if it is pushed too far, religion becomes almost a consumer product. People choose what they like, and some are even able to make a profit from it.”
“But religion constructed on a ‘do-it-yourself’ basis cannot ultimately help us. Help people to discover the true star which points out the way to us: Jesus Christ.”
Some Christian youth couldn't travel, but still risked their lives to show their faith.
More than 1,000 Roman Catholic youths gathered in Baghdad to celebrate World Youth Day and ask for the pontiff's blessing "at this most difficult time for our country," the Vatican said Saturday.Pope Benedict XVI, who is in Germany for the Catholic youth festival, received the Iraqi youths' message "with joy and commotion," the Vatican said.
The Iraqi Catholics also were joined by several Orthodox youths in a Baghdad cathedral Friday and sent their "affectionate greetings" to counterparts in Cologne, Germany, where Benedict has been celebrating the festival.
"We have gathered to know our Lord and to ask what he wants of us at this most difficult time for our country and for us," the youths said in their message. "We are bearing in mind the exhortation of Jesus: 'Courage, do not be afraid.'"
That's impressive.
Posted by Alan at August 21, 2005 08:44 AM