Pope Francis' message to Youth "...young people are the now of God, because his Son Jesus...walks and remains with them...".

MESSAGE FROM HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE XX LATIN AMERICAN MEETING
OF NATIONAL RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUTH PASTORAL - [LIMA, NOVEMBER 18-23, 2019]

To His Most Reverend Excellency
Monsignor Alfredo Vizcarra Mori, S.J.
Vicar Apostolic of Jaén
President of the Episcopal Commission for Laity and Youth

Vatican, November 4, 2019
Dear brother:

I cordially greet you as well as the organizers and participants in the XX Latin American Meeting of National Responsibilities of Youth Ministry, which takes place at the Juan Pablo II Coexistence House, in Santa Rosa Spa, with the motto: «Young people are sacred land , the now of God ».

You, by collaborating in the field of youth ministry, provide the Church with a service that cannot be neglected. Young people talk to us and challenge us, they make us realize the lights and shadows of our community, and with their enthusiasm they encourage us to give answers according to our time. They are the fertile and new terrain that God gives to Christian communities. You are entrusted with the task of accompanying them with respect and meekness in the way of their personal maturation, so that they become entrenched in faith and, with the grace of the Lord, bear fruits of love and hope.

In America, continent of hope, as in the whole world, young people are the now of God, because his Son Jesus, who is a manifestation of his goodness, walks and remains with them, and through Jesus, the Father continues to speak to us in the language of his love, "which knows more about rises than falls, reconciliation than prohibition, to give new opportunity to condemn, future and past" (WYD welcoming and opening ceremony, Panama January 24, 2019 ). I encourage you to go deeper and deeper into the knowledge of the person of Jesus, so that living in the intimacy of your heart, you can become missionary disciples and witnesses of your tenderness, and other young people can approach Him, the eternally young, experience the joy of their friendship and lead an existence founded on Christian fraternity and solidarity.

With these sentiments, I ask the Lord, through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patron of America, to support with her grace the pastors, those responsible for youth ministry and all the youth of Latin America, strengthening them in reciprocal love and accompanying them In your daily life.

May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin help you in your purposes of good. And please, don't forget to pray for me.

Fraternally,

Francis