Apr 19, 2008 / 16:25 pm
Before a youth rally of an estimated 25,000 people, Pope Benedict XVI spoke on hope and freedom, stressing the “journey of hope” made manifest in the lives of the saints.
However, he also addressed the “darknesses” that treat people as “mere objects” and manipulate, distort, and tarnish truth, perception of reality, and the imaginations and aspirations of youth. He further reflected on both the true nature and the distorted conceptions of freedom.
The Pope opened with a passage from the first letter of Peter: "Proclaim the Lord Christ … and always have your answer ready for people who ask the reason for the hope that is within you."
Pope Benedict directed the audience to observe the venue’s six large pictures of saints: Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Saint John Neumann, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Venerable Pierre Toussaint, and Padre Felix Varela. “Any one of us could be among them,” the Pope said. “Take courage! Fix your gaze on our saints.”
Though such saints are individually different, the Pope said, they were all “inflamed with the love of Jesus.” They made an “act of abandonment” to God and all “offered an outstretched hand of hope.” The saints “laid open the way of faith, hope and charity” through their ministry to the poor, the sick, and the marginalized. They did this through the “compelling witness that comes from walking humbly in the footsteps of Jesus,” which he said was the “way of forgiveness, reconciliation, humility, joy and peace.”