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Skriven 2006-06-10 10:57:54 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service (Press Release)
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Hello All!

                The following press release is Copyrighted by the
                          Vatican Information Service.
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                               VIS-Press releases

EDUCATING YOUNG PEOPLE IN FAITH, A FUNDAMENTAL TASK

VATICAN CITY, JUN 6, 2006 (VIS) - Yesterday evening in the Basilica of St. John
Lateran, the cathedral of Rome, Benedict XVI inaugurated the diocesan ecclesial
congress, which is being held from June 5 to 8 on the theme: "The joy of faith
and the education of new generations."

In his remarks, the Pope pointed out how "educating new generations in the
faith is a great and fundamentally important task that involves the entire
Christian community," one that has become "particularly difficult" today and,
hence, is "even more important and urgent."

The "certainty and joy of being loved by God must, in some way, be made
palpable and concrete for each of us, and especially for the young generations
who are entering the world of faith," he said.

The Holy Father then highlighted the importance of the new generations feeling
that the Church "is a company of friends, one that is truly trustworthy and
remains close in all the moments and circumstances of life, ... and that will
never abandon us even in death, because it carries in itself the promise of
eternity."

Young people and adolescents, he went on, "must be disabused of the widespread
prejudice that Christianity, with its commandments and its prohibitions, places
too many obstacles to the joy of love, and in particular that it prevents the
full enjoyment of the happiness that man and woman find in their mutual love.
... The Ten Commandments are not a series of 'nos', but a big 'yes' to love and
to life. Human love must be purified, it must mature and go beyond its own
limits in order to become truly human, to be the origin of true and lasting
joy, to respond to that demand for eternity it carries within itself and which
it cannot relinquish without betraying itself. This is the fundamental reason
for which love between man and woman is fully realized only in marriage."

Benedict XVI highlighted how the theme of truth "must occupy a central
position." In the faith, he said, "we welcome and accept the Truth that our
minds cannot fully understand, that they cannot posses." This "enables us to
arrive at the Mystery in which we are immersed and to rediscover in God the
definitive meaning of our existence."

Another dimension of the faith, the Pope went on, "is entrusting oneself to a
person: not to any person but to Jesus Christ" Who "fills our hearts, expanding
them and imbuing them with joy, spurring our intelligence towards unexplored
horizons, offering His decisive standpoint to our freedom, thus raising it up
from the straits of egoism and making it capable of authentic love."

"Scientific progress," the Pope went on, "is often presented as opposed to the
affirmations of the faith, giving rise to confusion and making it more
difficult to accept Christian truth." On this matter he added: "Dialogue
between faith and reason, if conducted sincerely and firmly, makes it possible
to gain a more effective and convincing vision of the rationality of faith in
God - not in any God but in the God Who revealed Himself in Jesus Christ - and
to show how the fulfillment of all authentic human aspirations lies in Jesus
Christ Himself."

Alongside the experience of faith, there exists a "privileged space in which
this meeting [with God] takes place more directly: ... prayer," said the Pope.
And he called on all the Church in Rome, especially consecrated people, to be
"assiduous in prayer" and to adore "the living Christ in the Eucharist, falling
ever more in love with Him, Who is our brother and true friend, the Bridegroom
of the Church, the faithful and merciful God Who loved us first. Thus, you
young people will be ready and willing to welcome His call, if He wants you
totally for Him in the priesthood or in consecrated life."

"The Pope concluded his remarks: "In the extent to which we nourish ourselves
from Christ and love Him, we also feel within ourselves the stimulus to bring
others to Him. Indeed, we cannot keep the joy of the faith to ourselves, we
must transmit it. This need becomes even stronger and more impelling in the
presence of that strange forgetfulness of God that exists today in vast areas
of the world and, to some extent, even here in Rome."
AC/FAITH:YOUNG PEOPLE/... VIS 060606 (730)

SUMMARY

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