The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, said: “The Pope would like to share a thought about WYD”. And the Pope: “I would like to say one thing about how I experienced WYD. This is the fourth one I've experienced. The first one was in Rio de Janeiro which was monumental, Brazilian-style, beautiful! The second was in Krakow, the third in Panama; this is the fourth. This is the most numerous one. The hard, concrete data said there were more than a million. More. In fact, at the Vigil at night, yesterday, it was estimated to be one million four hundred or one million six hundred thousand people. These are the government figures. The number is impressive. Well prepared, eh! Of the ones I have seen, this is the best prepared. The young people are a surprise. Young people are young, they act youthful, life is like that. But they are seeking to look forward. And they are the future. The idea is to accompany them. The problem is knowing how to accompany them. And that they shouldn’t detach themselves from their roots. That’s why I insist so much on dialogue between old and young, between grandparents with grandchildren. This dialogue is important, more important than the parent-child dialogue. With grandparents, because it is precisely there that you find the roots. Then young people: they are religious, they are looking for a non-hostile, non-artificial, non-legalistic faith, an encounter with Jesus Christ. And this is not easy.
They say, ‘But young people don't always live life in accordance with morality...’ Who among us has not made a moral mistake in our lives? Everyone has! With the commandments or with someone, each of us has our own downfalls in our own history. Life is like that. But the Lord is always waiting for us because He is merciful and [He is] Father, and mercy goes beyond everything. For me the WYD was beautiful. Before I caught the plane, I was with the volunteers who were 25,000! [It was] a mystical experience, an engagement that was really beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. That's what I wanted to say about Youth Day.”
Prompted by another question, the Holy Father also touched on the issue of mental health among young people and youth suicides: “Youth suicide is a major issue today, the numbers are major. The media does not often say so much or inform (about the issue). I have been - not (in the context of) confession, no - in dialogue with young people, taking up occasions for dialogue. A good young man said to me: Can I ask you a question? What do you think about suicide? He did not speak our language, but I understood well and we started to talk about suicide. And finally he said to me: Thank you, because last year I was undecided whether to do it or not to do it. So many young people are anxious and depressed but not only psychologically. Then in some countries that are very very demanding at the university, young people who do not succeed in getting a degree or finding a job, (and) commit suicide because they feel great shame. I'm not saying it's an everyday issue but it's a problem. A problem of our day. It's something that happens”.
Source: Vatican News
