This Friday, April 19, the Holy Father welcomed more than six thousand students of the Italian National Schools of Peace in the Paul VI Hall of the Vatican. The pontiff invited young people to pray for their contemporaries in Ukraine and Gaza and encouraged them to be “artisans of peace”.
Vatican news
More than 6,000 children from 137 schools and 94 Italian cities, members of the National Network of Peace Schools, are committed to teaching young people about peace, justice, citizenship, human rights and responsibilities. This Friday, April 19, in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall, to meet Pope Francis.
During a lively speech in which he repeatedly asked students for answers, the holy pontiff made a special appeal to remember children affected by war and conflict, especially those of Ukraine, children who “forgot to smile.” Gaza, “shot dead” and starved.
Pope Paul VI in the Vatican
A path full of ideas
Pope Francis began his address by thanking them for their path of “many ideas” aimed at promoting a “new vision of the world”. Similarly, the Pope thanked them for being “full of enthusiasm” and for their passionate and generous commitment to work for a better future.
Looking ahead to next autumn's summit organized by the UN in New York, the Holy Father said the participation of young people is essential to ensure that resolutions on paper become “concrete and transformative actions”.
Noting the Italian initiative “Changing the Future: For Peace, with Care,” the Pope challenged boys and girls to be “protagonists of the future, not spectators.” For this, he said, networks, linkages and people can work together in a coordinated and harmonious manner.
Students of the Peace Schools Network
A collective dream
Likewise, Pope Francis warned that the current challenges are truly global, affect everyone, and “require the courage and creativity of a collective dream that inspires a continuous commitment to face together the environmental, economic, political and social crises our planet is going through.” ”.
Faced with this challenge, the Pope said, “This is a dream, we must not sleep and wake up,” and emphasized that such dreams can be realized through prayer, “that is, together with God, not only by our dreams. Own forces.”
Also, the Holy Father highlighted two key words at the center of his speech: “peace” and “care.” These two ideas are intertwined, he explained, explaining that true peace is not only the absence of violence, but also “a climate of goodwill, trust and love that can mature in society based on caring relationships”.
Pope's audience with Peace School students
Craftsmen of Peace
And addressing the young people with deep affection, the Bishop of Rome invited them to do their part to establish peace in our world.
“In this time still marked by war, I ask you to be artisans of peace; in a society still imprisoned by a throwaway culture, I ask you to be protagonists of content; in a world facing global crises, I ask you to be builders of the future, so that our common home becomes a place of brotherhood.
Finally, Pope Francis called on students to resist indifference in an attitude of focus, inviting them to “always be concerned about the fate of our planet and our fellow human beings” and “for the future that opens before us.” Indeed it is as God dreams for all: a future of peace and beauty for all mankind.”
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