An Orthodox Church damaged by a Russian attack in Ukraine’s Donetsk region
By Linda Bordoni
Dec 28 2022
Pope Francis sends a message to young people gathered in the German town of Rostock for the 45th Taizé European meeting.
“You are undoubtedly concerned and scandalized” by the reappearance of war in Europe, says Pope Francis to participants in the Taizé Community’s annual European meeting, “and you are looking for ways to react; what to do together to help build peace and a greater human brotherhood.”
And inviting them to be lucid “about the evil that surrounds us as well as that which sometimes inhabits our hearts,” the Pope utters a heartfelt invocation:
The message written by Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, Substitute for the Secretariat of State of the Holy See on the Pope’s behalf, is an encouragement to the young people of the ecumenical monastic fraternity to keep hope alive, constantly trusting in the Lord.
Noting that the theme of this year’s gathering is “Inner Life and Solidarity”, the Pope remarks on how it is by practicing human solidarity, strengthened by the presence of the Lord, that they will feel how much God can act through them “to change the world.”
A time of fear and anxiety
At a time in history in which “many young people live with anxiety and sometimes fear,” he says, the Gospel shows us that “Jesus prepares his disciples to resist the fear that paralyzes, that blocks all initiative, that isolates.”
“He does not promise them an easy life, but his peace,” he explains.
Synodal process
Pope Francis reminds the young people of the Taizé community that it is in order to allow the People of God to listen to the Spirit that he has asked the Catholic Church to engage in a synodal process.
The message ends with an invitation to all to take part in this process and pray for this intention. – Vatican News
