BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

100,000 children and teens
of Italian Catholic Action
gather to listen to the Pope
Oct. 30, 2010






30 OCT 2010 (RV) - As many as 100,000 young people gathered in St. Peter’s Square Saturday for a morning of prayer and fellowship that culminated in an encounter with Pope Benedict XVI, who answered questions from a few of their representatives.

The gathering was organized by Azione Cattolica Ragazzi (acr), the youth wing of Italian Catholic Action, and brought together children and teenagers from every part of Italy, who began to descend upon the square well before dawn, many of them carrying signs and banners on which were written variations on the theme of the encounter: "C’è di più. Diventiamo grandi insieme" (There is much more - Growing up together).

After an enthusiastic morning of song and cheer in the Square beneath his window in the Apostolic Palace, the Pope came to greet his young guests and the adults who had accompanied them, and to answer questions from three of their number: a boy, a girl and one of their grown-up leaders, a teacher, Milena Marrocco from the diocese of Gaeta, who asked the Holy Father what it means to be an educator.

The Holy Father answered that true educators are not those who lord it over their charges, but those who recognize that they are, in Jesus’s name, servants of joy, whose task it is to lead the little ones in their care to Christ.

The boy, Francesco Poddo of the diocese of Nuoro, asked the Holy Father what it means to grow up, and how to grow as a follower of Jesus. He also asked, “Who can help?” in the great task of coming into adulthood – to which the Holy Father responded that growing up means growing in real friendship with Jesus, through prayer and constant participation in the sacraments.

“You also want to say, loud and clear, to everyone you meet, how beautiful it is to have a friend in Jesus – and how beautiful it is to be together in friendship with him, helped by your parents, your priests and your pastoral leaders!”

The girl, Anna Bulgarelli of the diocese of Carpi, spoke of the heartache and suffering that often accompany adolescents in their relationships, and asked the Holy Father to help her and her companions better to understand what it means to love well and truly:

The Pope responded saying that pop culture often conveys a distorted picture of love that is really selfishness and closure. “It gives you the thrill of a moment,” said Pope Benedict, “but it doesn’t make you happy – it doesn’t make you great.”

“Rather,” continued Pope Benedict, “it costs something to live love truly. It requires sacrifice. But I am sure you are not afraid of the hard work that authentic, committed love requires.”





Commendably, the Vatican has already posted the transcript of today's Q&A, so here's a translation:

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(Francesco Poddo, Diocese of Nuoro):
Holiness, what does it mean to grow up? What must I do to grow up following Jesus? Who can help me?
THE HOLY FATHER:
Dear friends of Italian Catholic Action, I am simply so happy to meet you in such numbers in thios beautiful piazza, and thank you from the heart for your affection.

I address a welcome to each of you, and I sespecially greet your president, Prof. Franco Miano, and your general spiritual adviser, Mons. Demonico Sigalini.

And I greet Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, president of the Italian bishops conference, the other bishops present, priests, educators and parents who have come here with you.

Now, to the question from the boy. The most beautiful answer to what it means to grow up is what you all carry written on your shirts, your caps and your posters: "There is much more".

Your slogan, which I did not know beforehand, has made me reflect. What does a child expect when he grows up? He compares his height with his peers, and he imagines himself growing even taller in order to feel bigger.

When I was a boy your age, I was one of the smallest boys in class, which made me want all the more to be very tall one day - not just tall in height, but I also wanted to do something great, something more of my life, even if I did not have that slogan in mind, "There is much more!".

This 'something more' can mean growing in height. Your heart also tells you, it wants to have more friends, that it is happy when you behave well, when you can give joy to Papa and Mamma, but above all, when you meet the friend who cannot be surpassed, a very good and unique friend, who is Jesus.

You know how much Jesus loved children and young people. One day, many children like you came to him because a beautiful understanding had been established between them, and in his eyes, they saw the reflection of God's love. But there were also adults there who felt annoyed by the presence of the children.

It happens to you sometimes, when you are playing or amusing yourselves with friends, and the elders tell you, "Don't bother us!" Well, Jesus reproached those adults and said to them: "Let all the children come to me, because they have in their heart the secret of the Kingdom of God!"

And so, Jesus taught the elders that even you are 'big' - which means that you have a heart that loves Jesus - and that adults should protect this in you.

Dear children and young people, to 'grow up' means to love Jesus so much, that you listen to him and talk to him in prayer, meet him in the Sacraments, in Holy Mass, at confession. It means getting to know him ever more and to make him be known to others. It means being with his friends, even the poorest, the sick, in order to grow together.

ACR is part of that 'something more'. It means that you are not alone in loving Jesus - there are so many of you, as we see this morning - and that you help one another. You would not like to see any friend left alone, and you wish to tell everyone clearly how beautiful it is to have Jesus for a friend, how beautiful it is to be a friend of Jesus. And it is beautiful to do so together, along with your parents, your priests and your teachers.

That is how you truly grow up, not just because you will be taller with age, but because your heart is open to the joy and love that Jesus gives you. And that means, you are open to the true greatness, which is to be in God's great love, which is also the love of your friends and family.

Let us hope and pray to grow in this sense, to find that 'something more', to be persons with a big heart, with a great friend who passes on his greatness even to us. Thank you.


OR photo.

(Anna Bulgarelli, Diocese of Carpi:)
Holiness, our teachers at Catholic Action tell us that in order to be 'big', we must learn to love. But often, we get lost and suffer in our relationships, in our friendships, in our first loves. What does it really mean to love to the utmost? How can we learn to love truly?
A great question. It is very important - I would say, fundamental - to learn to love, to love truly, to learn the art of true love.

As adolescents, we look at the mirror and we realize that we are changing. But as long as one just goes on looking at oneself, one will never grow up!

You grow up when you will no longer let the mirror be your only image of truth about yourself, but when you let your friends tell you who you are. You grow up when you are able to make of your life a gift to others, not searching for yourself, but to give yourself to others. This is the school of love.

But this love must carry within it that 'something more' that you have been shouting out today. "There's so much more!" As I said earlier, in my youth, I too wanted much more than what society and the mentality of my time presented to me. I wanted to breathe fresh air, I wanted a world that was beautiful and good, as our God had wanted for everyone, our God, the Father of Jesus.

And I started understanding ever more that the world becomes beautiful and good if we know the will of God, what he wants for us, and if the world corresponds to the will of God who is true light, who is beauty, the love that gives meaning to the world.

And that is true. You cannot and should not content yourself to 'love' that is reduced to a piece of merchandise, to be consumed without respect for oneself and for others, that is not capable of chastity and purity. This is not freedom.

Much of the 'love' that is offered in the media, in the Internet, is not love - it is selfishness, closedness; it gives you illusion for an instant, but it does not make you happy, it will not make you grow up, it will bind you down like a chain that stifles thought and the most beauiful feelings, the true impulses of the heart, that irrepressible force that is true love and which finds its maximum expression in Jesus, and in the Holy Spirit, the power and the fire to kindle your lives, your thoughts, your affections.

Of course, it also takes sacrifice to live love genuinely - without renunciation, you cannot take this path - but I am sure that you do not fear the effort needed for a committed and authentic love. It is the only thing, after all is said and done, that gives true joy.

There is a test that will tell you if your love is growing well: when you do not exclude others from your life, especially your friends who suffer and who are alone, people in difficulty, and when you open your heart to the great friend that Jesus is.

Catholic Action teaches you the ways to learn authentic love: taking part in the life of the Church; loving your friends in ACR and elsewhere; your availability to those you meet at school, in the parish and other places; the company of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, who will protect your heart and lead you in the path of goodness.

Moreover, in Catholic Action, you have so many examples of love that is genuine, beautiful and true, like Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and Blessed Alberto Marvelli. Of love that has led to the sacrifice of one's life, as did Blessed Pierina Morosini and Blessed Antonia Messina.

Young people of Catholic Action, aim for great goals, because God gives you the strength for them. The 'something more' is to be children and youth who decide to love like Jesus does, to be the leading player in your own life, as well as leading players in the Church, witnesses to the faith for your contemporaries.

The 'something more' is the human and Christian formation that you experience in Catholic Action, which brings together spiritual life, brotherhood, public witness to the faith, ecclesial communion, love for the Church, working with your bishops and priests, spiritual friendship.

And 'to grow up together' expresses the importance of being part of a group and a community that will help you to grow, to discover your calling and to learn true love. Thank you.


(Milena Marrocca, teacher, Diocese of Gaeta:)
Holiness, what does it mean to be an educator today? How can we face the difficulties we meet in doing our service? And how can we make it the responsibility of all to take care of the present and future of the new generations?
We see in this question the educational challenge. I would say that to be a teacher means to have joy in your heart that you can communicate to everyone as something that makes life beautiful and good.

It means offering goals for the journey of life, offering the beauty of the person of Jesus to make others enamored of him, of his way of life, of his freedom, of his great love full of confidence in God the Father.

It means holding up at all times the goal of every existence towards that 'something more' that comes to us from God. This requires a personal knowledge of Jesus, a personal contact, daily and loving, in prayer, in meditating on the Word of God, in faithfulness to the Sacraments, to the Eucharist, to confession.

It requires communicating the joy of being in the Church, to have friends with whom to share not just difficulties but also the beauties and surprises of a life of faith.

You know quite well that you are not the masters of the children in your care, but servants of their joy in the name of Jesus, guides to lead them to him. You have received the Church's mandate for this task.

Your membership in Catholic Action tells everyone, including yourself, that you love the Church, that you are ready to be co-responsible with the Church pastors for her life and mission, in an association that exerts itself for the good of people, for their and your journeys towards holiness, for the life of Christian communities as they carry out the Christian mission day to day.

You will be good educators if you are able to involve everyone for the sake of young people. You cannot be self-sufficient, but you must be able to feel the urgency of educating the younger generations at all levels.

Without the presence of the family, for instance, you risk building on sand. Without collaborating with the schools, you cannot shape in them a profound intelligence of the faith. Without involving the various other workers who work with them in their leisure activities and in communications, your work is at risk of not being effective, of not making a mark on their daily life.

I am sure that Catholic Action is well rooted in Italy and has the courage to be 'salt and light'. Your presence here this morning tells not just me but everyone that it is possible to educate children well, that it is hard work but beautiful to be able to give enthusiasm to children and young people.

Have the courage - I would even say, the daring - not to leave any place devoid of Jesus, of his kindness, that you can let everyone experience, especially the neediest and the abandoned, through your mission as educators.

Dear friends, finally, I thank you all for having taken part in this encounter. I would love to stay longer with you, because when I am in the midst of so much joy and enthusiasm, I too am full of joy, and I feel rejuvenated!

Unfortunately, time goes fast and others are waiting to see me. But in my heart, I am with you and will always be with you. And I invite you, dear friends, to continue along your path, faithful to the identity and the purposes of Catholic Action.

The power of God's love can achieve great things through you. I assure you of rememberance in all my prayers and I entrust you to the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, because like her, you can testify that 'There is much more" - the joy of a full life in the presence of the Lord.

I thank you all from the heart.

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10/31/10
Newsphotos yesterday were hardly representative of the event. I kept waiting for them to post more, but even this morning, they have not added a single photo. For instance, not a single overview of the entire crowd [the one I used in the first photo above is from the OR and does not blow up well], and not a single photo of the Holy Father or the three questioners at the Q&A. Here are the rest of the photos from the news agencies - with great photographs of B16 during the Popemobile 'tour':