Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Feb 2, 2005 / 22:00 pm
During a Mass celebrated at the Cathedral of Santo Domingo on National Youth Day, the archbishop of Santo Domingo, Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez exhorted young people of the Dominican Republic to cultivate loyalty, purity of spirit and respect for others.
The cardinal expressed his concern for the many “misguided” young people who are immersed in the world of crime, drugs and prostitution. Likewise, he said it was important that young people take truth, responsibility and love of country as guides for living.
He also called on authorities to practice what they preach, since the culture of crime, consumerism and individualism leads many young people to lose direction.
In this sense he called on the government to invest more in education and health care. At the end of Mass Cardinal Lopez awarded recognitions to outstanding young people from the nine dioceses and archdioceses of the country.