Pope in Colombia tells young people to dare to dream
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Pope Francis greets the faithful from the Cardinal's Residence in Bogota.- RV |
(Vatican Radio) Calling himself a pilgrim of peace and hope Pope
Francis urged some 22,000 young
people gathered in Bogotá’s Bolivar Square not be afraid of the
future: “Dare to dream big, he said, I want to invite you to that great dream
today”.
And of course Pope Francis was asking them to make that
dream of a peaceful future for Colombia come true. He’s been very clear that
his presence here at this crucial moment in which all Colombians are called to
overcome fear and division is a concrete sign of encouragement and support.
Just minutes earlier he had told the Bishops
to give their flock the courage “to take the first step towards definitive
peace and reconciliation, towards abdicating the method of violence and
overcoming the inequalities at the root of so much suffering”.
As the government tries to push forward its programme for
reconciliation and reconstruction, it has become increasingly clear that one of
the major obstacles lies in the deep divisions that wound Colombian society.
That’s why young people are so important in the process as they represent the
future and are those who have the most to lose or to gain.
“Do not let anyone rob you of joy”, the Pope said to them,
“look after that joy which unites everyone” in the knowledge that the flame of
Jesus’s love is sufficient to set the whole world ablaze. “How could you
not be capable of changing this society?”
The Pope did not shy away from highlighting the fact that
young Colombians have “endured difficult and dark moments and how contexts of
death, pain and division can impact one so deeply “that they have left you
half-dazed”. But he also lingered over the fact that for young people it is so
easy to encounter one another: all you need is a good coffee, a good drink, a
football game – he said – and you teach us that the culture of encounter is not
in thinking, living or reacting to everyone in the same way, but in “knowing that
beyond our differences we are all part of something greater that unites and
transcends us; we are part of this wonderful country”.
And touching on another fundamental and thorny issue of the
Colombian peace process, Francis said that youthfulness makes one capable of
forgiving and leaving behind what has hurt us to look to the future without the
burden of hatred.
“Colombia – he said to the young people – needs you!"
With Pope Francis in Bogotà, I'm Linda Bordoni
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