Vatican City, May 29, 2008 / 08:34 am
The Vatican’s Synod Hall was filled today by the bishops of Italy as they listened to the Pope’s address on the theme of evangelization and education among the new generations. The Holy Father spoke of the “educational emergency” in forming the youth and insisted that truly human formation involves God.
The Pope began his address by recalling the “educational emergency" he has referred to on a number of previous occasions. This emergency "assumes a very specific form” when dealing with “the transmission of the faith to the new generations," he said. Educating the youth in today’s culture requires us to “negotiate the obstacles placed in our way by relativism, by a culture that puts God within parenthesis and discourages all truly committed choices, and in particular definitive choices, rather privileging ... self-affirmation and immediate satisfaction."
To confront these difficulties, Benedict XVI told the bishops that they should turn to the "many charisms and forms of evangelizing energy" present in their dioceses and accept them with joy.
Other tools at the bishops’ disposal "are personal relationships, especially sacramental confession and spiritual guidance. Each of these moments represents an opportunity given to us to help our young people see the face of the God who is the true friend of mankind."