Posted on 08/10/2007 11:55:14 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) -- Contrary to what many may think, young people are strongly attracted to Jesus Christ and the Gospel, Pope Benedict XVI told thousands of Spanish youths.
The pope urged some 5,000 pilgrims from Youth Mission of Madrid to continue to help their peers discover they are all loved by God and that his is "the only love that never fails and never ends."
The pope spoke to the young people packed inside the courtyard of his papal summer residence, south of Rome, Aug. 9. He also greeted thousands of young people who could not fit inside the confined courtyard and gathered outside the residence's entrance.
Pope Benedict sat and listened from his balcony as five young adults described how they grew closer to God and the church through their evangelization efforts with Madrid's Youth Mission missionary initiative.
The program, spearheaded by Madrid Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela, helps prepare young Catholics to evangelize their peers.
The pope told his audience that people have not and will not always be receptive to the good news of Jesus Christ.
Just as the early disciples faced many obstacles and persecution, even today "you see many around you who have forgotten or do not want anything to do with" God, and instead remain "blinded by many fleeting dreams that promise much but leave the heart empty," he said.
Faith in Jesus opens up "the horizon of a new life, authentic freedom, and hope without limits," he said, but it needs missionaries to bring this saving power to everyone.
"Contrary to what many people think, the Gospel strongly attracts young people," he said.
He reminded his young and enthusiastic audience members "to cultivate your personal relationship with Christ, to always keep it in the middle of your heart" so that Christ and his love will be visible to all.
END
God bless Pope Benedict. Next year’s World Youth Day is going to be huge.
I like Benedict XVI!
I hope and pray that more youth would accept Jesus and the Gospel-—that is, the real Jesus and the real Gospel. The real Gospel is salvation by grace through faith. The real Gospel is praying only to God, not to the saints, living or dead. The real Gospel says that Jesus is the only mediator between God and man. The real Gospel is confessing sins to God and not man. The real Gospel is the priesthood of the believer. The real Gospel is that only God and His Word are infallible. No human being is infallible. The real Gospel says that salvation comes from God, not from a church. The real Gospel says that there are only two places for people to go to when they die: Heaven and Hell. There is no purgatory. The real Gospel is based on Sola Scriptura, meaning “Scripture alone.”
The real Gospel is confessing sins to God and not man.
Then how come the real Gospel gives the power to forgive sins to men, in John 20:23?
No human being is infallible.
Then the human authors of scripture were capable of error, and your Bible cannot be trusted.
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