Vatican City, Feb 7, 2013 / 09:38 am
"The Church has confidence in the young" and needs their lively participation, Pope Benedict XVI insisted, while also underscoring the threat of youth being pushed to the margins of society by unemployment and the crisis in education.
"Although we are aware of the many problematic situations … we wish to renew our faith in the young and reaffirm that the Church looks to their condition and their cultures as an essential and inescapable" focal point for its ministry, the Pope told the Pontifical Council for Culture on Feb. 7.
The emphasis on young people was brought home by the way the council kicked-off its Feb. 6-9 full assembly on "Emerging Youth Cultures" in Rome. Gathered at the main hall of LUMSA university, cardinals, bishops and lay people attended a concert by the Italian rock band "The Sun."
The president of the council, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, told CNA before the concert that a university was chosen as a venue because they are centers of youth culture.