Next April 14 we will remember the 40 years of the first great meeting of young people which, in the context of the Holy Year of Redemption, was the seed of the future World Youth Days. At the end of that jubilee year, in 1984, Saint John Paul II gave the cross to the young people with the mission of taking it to the whole world, as a sign and reminder that only in the dead and risen Jesus is there salvation and redemption. As you well know, it is a wooden cross without the Crucified, designed to remind us that it celebrates above all the triumph of the Resurrection, the victory of life over death, and to tell everyone: “Why do you search among the dead to the one who is alive? He is not here, he has risen »(Lk 24,5-6). And you contemplate Jesus in this way: alive and overflowing with joy, conqueror of death, friend who loves you and wants to live in you.(3) Only in this way, in the light of his presence, the memory of the past It will be fruitful and you will have the courage to live in the present facing the future with hope. They will be able to freely assume the history of their families, their grandparents, their parents, the religious traditions of their countries, to in turn be builders of tomorrow and “craftsmen” of the future.
The Christus Vivit Exhortation is the fruit of a Church that wants to walk together and that is why it listens, engages in dialogue and constantly discerns the will of the Lord. For this reason, more than five years ago, in view of the Youth Synod, many of you, from different parts of the world, were asked to share your hopes and wishes. Hundreds of young people came to Rome and worked together for a few days, collecting and proposing ideas. Thanks to their work, the bishops were able to know and delve into a broader and deeper vision of the world and the Church. It was a true “synodal experiment” that bore many fruits and that also prepared the way for a new Synod—the one we are experiencing now, in these years—precisely on synodality. As we read in the 2018 Final Document, in fact, «the participation of young people has contributed to “awakening” synodality, which is a “constitutive dimension of the Church”»(4). And now, in this new stage of our ecclesial journey, we need your creativity more than ever to explore new paths, always in fidelity to our roots.
Dear young people, you are the living hope of a Church on the way. That is why I thank you for your presence and your contribution to the life of the Body of Christ. And I ask you: do not allow us to ever lack the good mess that you make; the thrust they have, like that of a clean and agile engine; their original way of living and announcing the joy of the Risen Jesus. I pray for it; and you too, please pray for me.