Pope to pilgrims from Panama:
thank you for your “nobility”
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| Pope Francis with pilgrims from Panama (ANSA) |
Pope Francis meets a group of pilgrims from Panama and
thanks them for the “nobility” he experienced during the celebration of World
Youth Day.
By Vatican News
World Youth Day in Panama took place in late January this
year. But the event is still clearly very much alive in the Pope’s memory.
Meeting with a group of pilgrims from Panama in the Vatican
on Thursday, Pope Francis thanked them for all the work that went into making
WYD 2019 such a success. “It's good to thank each other”, he said, because
“it's a word we often forget”.
The “nobility” of Panama
The Pope focussed his message to the pilgrims on the theme
of gratitude. Referring to his experience in Panama in January, he said “I too
am very grateful for what I saw: a noble people”. “Nobility is not bought”, he
continued, “it is inherited, breathed, lived. You are either noble or you are
not noble”. Pope Francis described Panama as “a noble country” where protocol
can be broken even by bishops and civil authorities. He remembered seeing
authorities, including the President, “in jeans and a t-shirt”, in the midst of
the people. “That's nobility”, he explained, “it's respect for the people, love
for the people”.
The “identity” of Panama
Pope Francis remembered the “mini youth day” that was
prepared especially for children. He also spoke of the importance of engaging
children in what he called “intergenerational dialogue”, in order to draw
inspiration “from the roots” so that children may “grow and flourish”.
“Ideological colonisations”, he warned, “kill nobility”, while bridges built
between one generation and another “help one's own identity”.
The “roots” of Panama
Finally, Pope Francis thanked his visitors for the respect
they have shown local indigenous peoples. “It’s good to be able to say: No, our
people didn't start from here; our people also have roots that must be
integrated”. The ability to integrate is another sign of nobility”, he said.
The Pope admitted he had been “very happy in Panama”, saying he could breathe
an air of “normality and tenderness” there. Pope Francis said that perhaps one
of his Successors would call another World Youth Day there, maybe “in about 150
years from now!”
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