(ANS – Rio de Janeiro)– Yesterday, 27 July, the programme for World Youth Day was a heavy one. At the centre of it all were the words of Pope Francis. This can be seen especially from the talks he gave to the Bishops of Brazil and to the young people gathered at Copacabana for the Prayer Vigil. These two talks contain guidelines for the Bishops and for the young people that will be useful also for educators and evangelizers everywhere.

Twice he spoke about the need for dialogue. In his homily to the Bishops, priests, religious and seminarians who took part in WYD, the Pope began by reflecting on God’s call and the call to proclaim the Gospel. He went on, then, to speak about a third aspect of vocation which is the culture of dialogue: “I would like you to be almost obsessed with this approach. And we must not be presumptuous, imposing our version of the truth, but guided by the humble joyful certainty of people who have been found, touched and transformed by the Truth that is Christ. We cannot but proclaim him.”  Speaking to the political leaders gathered in the Municipal Theatre in Rio de Janeiro, he looked first to the past recalling the importance of traditional culture, and then to the future calling for responsibility for the whole of society.         ”I believe that constructive dialogue is fundamental in facing the present. Between selfish indifference and violent protest there is always another option, namely dialogue – dialogue between generations, dialogue with the people, because we are all the people, a capacity for giving and receiving, remaining open  to the truth.”

His talk to the Brazilian Bishops was deeper and offered a programme for the future. He proposed lines of action that are directed to the Church in a country with more than 194 million inhabitants, but are valid in every country and every pastoral situation.  Pope Francis drew some conclusions from the story of the three fishermen who were at the origin of the devotion to Our Lady at Aparecida: “Dear brothers, pastoral work does not depend on the wealth of our resources but on the creativity of our love. Tenacity, effort, hard work, planning and organization are all important, but we know that the Church’s power does not lie in itself. It is hidden in the deep waters of God, in which we are called to cast our nets.” Reminding us that the Church cannot stray from the way of simplicity, he added, “Aparecida appeared at a crossroads [ …] God appears at crossroads.”

Going back over the history of the Church in Brazil, he repeated what was said in the final document of the 5^th General Assembly of CELAM: we are not “in an era of change, but this is a change of era.” He called on the Church not to be afraid to push out into the night. He identified some of the challenges facing the Church in Brazil: the formation of Bishops, priests and religious and lay people; collegiality and solidarity in the Bishops’ Conference; a permanent state of mission and pastoral conversion; the task facing the Church in society and in Amazonia, as a testing ground for the Church and society in Brazil.

His talk to the young people during the prayer vigil was equally important. One of the best known and most worldly beaches in the world last night became a great cathedral built with living stones.

The Brazilian media speak of a crowd of 3 million.  It would seem that many young people, and others not so young, came to Rio de Janeiro only for the concluding ceremonies.

The young people participated actively in the Prayer Vigil which had as its theme God’s call to St Francis of Assisi: “Go and rebuild my house!” The Vigil included personal testimonies, song and dance, and, after the address of Pope Francis, a time of Eucharistic Adoration.

Pope Francis spoke in youthful metaphors, and, with warm fatherly encouragement, he invited the young people to be disciples and missionaries.  “The Lord still has need today of young people for his Church,” the Pope said.  Then, referring to the last- minute change of venue for the Vigil, he added, “Could it be that the Lord is telling us that the field of faith, the real ‘campus fidei’, is not a geographic location but it is us – wherever we are? Yes! That is it!  Each one of us, each one of you, I, all of us… We are called to be missionaries and that means that we are God’s field of faith.”

To clarify the metaphor of the field of faith, he gave three explanations:

• The field is the place where God’s word is sown. “Remember this moment. Each one knows the name of the sower who came later into the field. Let the seed grow and God will take care of it”.
• The field is the place of formation. Jesus asks us to become his disciples, ‘to play on his team’. To do this we need formation. It is our training for life and for our mission.  
• The field is a work that is still ongoing.  “When our heart is good soil that receives the Word of God, when we labour and sweat, trying to live as Christians, we experience something great. We are never alone.  We are part of a family of brothers on the same journey. We are part of the Church. Indeed, we become builders of the Church and makers of history.” 

Published 28/07/2013