«Don’t be afraid, be a sprouts of peace where the seed of hatred and resentment grows. Be weavers of units where polarization or enmity prevail. Be a voice of those who have no voice to ask for justice and dignity. Be light and salt where the flame of faith and the taste of life is turning off ». Pope Leone meets the Council of young people in the Mediterranean and encourages the boys to continue to be the architects of reconciliation. “Your advice,” he explains, “is both a project and a sign. The project is what Pope Francis has entrusted to the churches of the Mediterranean: mend broken relationships, reconstruct cities destroyed by violence, make a garden flourish in what is now a desert, instill hope in the desperate and encourage those who are trapped in himself not to fear the brothers ». Instead, instead, “you are yourself. The sign of a generation that does not accept acritically what is happening, that does not turn on the other side nor wait for someone else to take the first step. You represent a generation that imagines a better future and choose to build it. You are the sign of a world that does not surrender to indifference and self -satisfaction, but rolls up the sleeves and works to transform evil to good ». The pontiff recalls the meetings in Bari and Florence, under the sign of Giorgio La Pira and insists on not surrendering, even “if someone does not understand you. San Carlo di Foucault said that God also served himself about the contrary winds to lead us to the port ». And while the world leaders continue to discuss, but often only with slogans, Leone asks young people to be peace operators. “What we need,” he says, “is to cultivate peace in our hearts, in our relationships, let it bloom in our daily actions, to commit ourselves to reconciliation in our homes, in our communities, in our schools and in our workplaces, in the Church and among the churches. Blessed peace operators, because they will be called children of God ». Of course, it is not easy, to be peace operators “forces us to get out of our comfort area, made of distraction and indifference, and can meet the resistance of those who have an interest in perpetuating conflicts. Dear young people, continue to be signs of hope. The hope that does not disappoint, the hope that has its roots in the love of Christ “.
And you don’t have to wait to act. Young people are not called to intervene in future, but today. Continuing to “be heralds of the Gospel, right around that sea from whose banks the first disciples left. For believers, the future is not made of walls and barbed wire, but of mutual welcome. In this way, the spiritual heritage of the great religious traditions born in the Mediterranean will be able to continue to be a live ferment in this area and beyond, source of peace, openness to others, fraternity and care of creation. These religions have been, and sometimes they continue to be, exploited to justify violence and armed conflicts. We must reject these forms of blasphemy that disseminate the holy name of God. And to do it, with our way of life, we are called to cultivate prayer and spirituality, together with the action, as sources of peace and meeting points between traditions and cultures “.
The Pontiff recognizes that young people are giving body and body Inquest commitment, “with numerous projects both in the territories in your communities and at European level in dialogue with the ecclesial and political institutions” and this is the “demonstration that dialogue is possible that the differences are a source of wealth and not a reason for contrast, that the other is always a brother and never a stranger or worse”.
And then to this experience promoted by the Italian Formal Conference with the two key moments of 2020 and 2022 that have brought together “the bishops of some countries of the Mediterranean area in the awareness that the Mare Nostrum can and must be a meeting place, a crossroads of fraternity, a cradle of life and not a tomb for the dead”, must continue “as a sign of hope”.
Giorgio La Pira, insists, “was convinced that peace in the Mediterranean region would have been the beginning and almost the basis of peace among all the nations of the world. This vision today maintains all its strength and its prophetic charge, in a time torn by conflicts and violence, where the rush to the armaments and the logic of the abuse have the better of international law and on the common good but we must not discourage us we must not resign ourselves and you young people with your dreams with your creativity can be given a fundamental contribution now and not tomorrow because you are the present and the hope “.
