Leons XIV stood before a sea of approximately 80,000 young people on Friday evening, September 25, at the Stade de France, situated roughly 10 kilometers outside central Paris. The pontiff delivered a message of enduring hope during a prayer vigil.
At Stade de France, Vigil Draws 80,000 Faithful
God guides history toward salvation, he told the gathered youth, declaring firmly that Christ brings an end to all evil.
Beyond Digital Validation and Modern Solitude
Reporting from the scene, Janis Evertovskis noted that the Bishop of Rome pressed French youth to anchor their identities in God’s people. This designation, the pope explained, represents deep bonds rather than mere belonging.
True freedom requires living closely with God and resisting anything that drains meaning from daily existence. Jesus remains the definitive source of that liberty.
Genuine freedom stems from living relationships. “That style makes us get everything, yet be nothing; to receive a pile of likes, but remain in solitude,” Leons XIV warned, critiquing the isolation woven into a lifestyle where greed destroys relationships.
St. Paul’s Framework for Christian Living
Shifting to the practicalities of faith, the pontiff turned to the writings of St. Paul to Timothy. He distilled Christian living into a dynamic framework built upon three distinct actions:
- Avoid: Reject pride, vanity, violence, and greed. These forces, the pope cautioned, envelop individuals in a frightening loneliness.
- Strive: Pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness as tangible reflections of God’s goodness in daily life.
- Fight: Engage in the battle of faith by living according to the Gospel, relying solely on the weapon of self-giving love rather than violence or oppression.
Secular Ideals and the ‘Little Way’ of Saints
These virtues do more than shape private devotion. The pope noted that they form the foundational bedrock for the principles of equality and fraternity that continue to inspire French society.
To sustain this path, he encouraged the young crowd to look toward the saints for guidance. Specifically, he pointed to St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and her “little way” of daily love, offering it as a sturdy foundation for building lasting peace.
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