Pope Benedict XVI has just marked the 25th anniversary since Pope John Paul II instituted World Youth Days, celebrated every year on Palm Sunday with an additional international gathering of young people held every three years. The next one will take place in Madrid in 2011.
John Paul II loved young people. On their part, they realised this and returned his love with all their youthful enthusiasm. He also understood the challenges faced by young people in today's world and showed trust in them. Indeed, he used to spur them on to be courageous heralds of the gospel and intrepid builders of the civilisation of truth, love and peace. Many would, in fact, acknowledge that, thanks to the profound dialogue he developed with young people, many of them were able to deepen their faith and develop a true love for the Good News of Christ. It is, therefore, no wonder that Benedict XVI was quick to take up this extraordinary spiritual legacy of John Paul II.
Hosting the celebration of the 25th World Youth Day in St Peter's Square in Rome, the Holy Father summed up the aim of the Pope's dialogue with young people as follows: "Twenty-five years ago my beloved predecessor invited young people to profess their faith in Christ. Today, I renew this appeal to the new generations to bear witness, with the mild but luminous power of truth, that the men and women of the third millennium may not lack their most authentic model: Jesus Christ." He then encouraged young people not to be afraid when following Christ and to serve Christ in the weakest and most disadvantaged people, especially their own peers in difficulties.
One young person asked the Holy Father a question that so many Christian young people the world over most probably put some time or another in their youth: "Jesus invited the rich young man to leave everything and follow Him but he went away sad. Like him, I also find it hard to follow because I'm afraid to leave my things and sometimes the Church asks difficult sacrifices of me. Holy Father, how can I find the strength to make courageous decisions and who can help me?"
In his response to this and other questions, Pope Benedict XVI spoke on how sacrifices are possible and even become beautiful at the end if they have a reason and if such reason justifies even the difficulty of the sacrifice.
He also spoke on how the keys to living well and attaining eternal life are held in the Ten Commandments, the "rules of love" through which people are taught to love God and love their neighbours as themselves. The Commandments, he said, "indicate the way of love with these essential points: the family, as foundation of society; life, to be respected as a gift from God; the order of sexuality, as the relation between man and woman and, finally, the truth".
The Holy Father will surely have the occasion to develop on such matters in his upcoming encounter with Malta's young people on April 18.
The younger generations possess a lot of good values. However, they also have - as one can see from the findings of a survey on the religious beliefs and attitudes of Maltese University students published in 2009 - their own questions, for instance, on the moral teachings of the Church on subjects like divorce, artificial contraception, pre-marital sexual intercourse and pre-marital cohabitation.