To Young People at the National Stadium of Saint Joseph (3 March 1983)

On Thursday, 3 March 1983, the Holy Father spoke to Young People at the National Stadium of Saint Joseph of Costa Rica. In his address, the Pope said he knew of their dissatisfaction with the evils that surround them. But it's not enough merely to lament them. “Christ calls you to commit yourselves to good, to the destruction of selfishness and sin in all its forms. He wants you to build a society in which the moral values ​​that God desires to see in the heart and life of man are cultivated.” 

My dear young people

1. On my apostolic visit to this geographical area I meet you today, young people from Costa Rica present here; and through the media, also with those of the other countries that I will visit in the coming days.

Both to you who are at this stage and to those absent, united but affectionately with us, I express my great joy in being with you and I give you my most cordial greeting as a friend and brother.

I come to share with you this fraternal human and ecclesiastical experience, and to tell you a word that I am sure will have a strong echo in your generous heart: Christ, eternally young, needs you and calls you into the Church, "the true youth of the world" (Council Ecumenical Vatican II, Message to Young People, 6).

At the end of the Second Vatican Council, its last message was addressed precisely to young people, to you "who are going to collect the torch from the hands of your ancestors and live in the world at the moment of the most gigantic transformations in its history" ( ibid ., 1) .

With great confidence the Council Fathers then said: "It is for you, the young people, especially for you, that the Church has just lit, through its Council, a light: a light that will illuminate the future" ( ibid .,2).

Given that this message is incredibly topical, it seems opportune to dwell here with you on it, to examine how it can better illuminate your path and help you to respond to the serious commitment that you have as the leaven and hope of the human community and of the Church.

2. I know that you often ask yourself how to live your life in a way that is worthwhile; about how to behave so that your existence is full and does not fall into emptiness; how to do something to improve the society in which you live, facing the serious evils from which it suffers and which are repugnant to your thirst for sincerity, fraternity, justice, peace and solidarity. I know that you desire noble ideals, even though they cost you, and you do not want to live a dark life, made up of small or large betrayals of your conscience as young people and Christians. And I also know that to achieve this you are willing to adopt a positive attitude towards your own existence and the society of which you are members.

It is not enough, in fact, to contemplate the numerous evils that you discover around you, or to passively lament them. It’s not enough to criticize them either. Nor would it lead to any solution to declare oneself powerless or defeated in the face of evil and allow oneself to be transported by despair. No, that is not the solution.

Christ calls you to commit yourselves to good, to the destruction of selfishness and sin in all its forms. He wants you to build a society in which the moral values ​​that God desires to see in the heart and life of man are cultivated. Christ invites you to be faithful children of God, doers of good, justice, fraternity, love, honesty and harmony. Christ encourages you to always carry in your spirit and in your actions the essence of the Gospel: love for God and love for man (cf. Mt. 22, 40).

Because only in this way, with this understanding of the depth of man in the light of God, will you be able to work effectively so that "this society that you are going to build respects the dignity, freedom, and rights of people: and these people are you" ( Vatican Ecumenical Council II, ibid ., 3). You and those who — never forget it — are children of God and therefore have the demanding name of your brothers.

3. This path of commitment in favor of man is not easy. Working to elevate him and always see his dignity recognized and respected is a very demanding task. To persevere in it, a deep motivation is necessary, capable of overcoming tiredness and skepticism, doubt and even the smile of those who give in to their own comfort or consider those who are capable of altruism to be naive.

For you, young Christians, this fundamental motivation, capable of transforming your actions, is your faith in Christ. It teaches you that it is worth working for a more just society; that it is worth defending the innocent, the oppressed, the poor; that it is worth suffering to alleviate the suffering of others; that it is worth dignifying the man brother more and more.

It's worth it because this man is not the poor being who lives, suffers, rejoices, is exploited and ends his life with death; but it is a being in the image of God, called to eternal friendship with Him: a being that God loves and wants to be loved.

Yes, you want not only to be respected − which is the first and fundamental step − but also to be loved by your peers.

This is the lofty goal to which our Christian faith calls us. This is the path that leads to the heart of man and that passes through God's complacency in him. That is why the Council was concerned that society let its treasure, always ancient and always new, spread: faith ( ibid , 4)

4. The Church trusts that you will know how to be strong and courageous, lucid and persevering on this path. And that having focused on the good and animated by your faith, you will be able to resist the philosophies of selfishness, pleasure, despair, nothingness, hatred and violence ( ibid ., 4). Know the bitter fruits it produces. How many tears, how much blood shed because of violence, the result of hatred and selfishness!

The young person who allows himself to be dominated by selfishness impoverishes his horizons, diminishes his moral energies, ruins his youth and prevents the adequate growth of his personality. On the contrary, the authentic person, far from withdrawing into himself, is open to others; grows, matures and develops as it serves and gives of itself generously.

Behind selfishness appears the philosophy of pleasure. How many young people, unfortunately, are swept away by the current of hedonism, presented as a supreme value; This leads them to sexual disorder, alcoholism, drugs and other addictions that destroy their ardent strength and weaken their ability to face the reforms that are indispensable to society.

A natural consequence of selfishness and pleasure considered absolute is the despair that leads to the philosophy of nothingness. The authentic young person believes in life and is overflowing with hope. He is convinced that God calls him in Christ to fully realize himself, to the state of perfect man and the maturity of fullness. (cf. Eph . 4, 13).

5. And what should I say to you, beloved young people, about the horrors of hatred and violence? It is a sad reality that, at this moment, much of Central America is reaping the bitter fruits of the seeds sown by injustice, hatred and violence.

Faced with this painful situation of death and confrontation, the Pope feels the imperative need to repeat before you, young people, the words of Christ: "a new commandment I give to you: that you love one another" ( John 13:34). And also the solemn words spoken by my Predecessor Paul VI in Bogotá: "Violence is neither Christian nor evangelical" ( Homily of August 23, 1968 ).

Yes, you dear young people, you have a serious responsibility to break the chain of hatred that produces hatred, and the violence that generates violence. You must create a better world than that of your ancestors. If you do not do so, the blood will continue to flow, and tomorrow, tears will bear witness to the suffering of your children. I therefore invite you, as a brother and friend, to fight with all the energy of your youth against hatred and violence, until love and peace are reestablished in your nations.

You are called to teach others the lesson of love, of Christian love, which is both human and divine. You are called to replace hate with the civilization of love.

You will be able to achieve this through the splendid path of authentic friendship, which always leads to what is highest and noblest; of the friendship that you learn from Christ, who will always be your model and great friend. And energetically reproaching those who resort to hatred and its manifestations as an instrument to form a new society.

6. The Council's message also invites you not to give in to atheism, "a phenomenon of tiredness and old age" ( ibid ., 4). Before him, you, vigorous young people, must affirm your faith in "what gives meaning to life: the certainty of the existence of a just and good God" ( ibid .).

You must manifest this faith in your life, enriching others with a vivid, joyful, hopeful and hopeful testimony, which infects those who look at you. Your Christian witness, youthful and strong, capable of overcoming human respect, has great evangelizing power. This must be your life behavior. If you are faithful to this program, you will feel the joy of fighting and suffering for good; of those who give others the reason for their hope; of those who find the face of Christ in every man; of someone who constantly renews their inner youth; of those who face the world that seeks Him, perhaps without knowing it, proclaiming a message of 'optimism: even in our days, Jesus of Nazareth continues to be the source and inspiration of truth, dignity, justice and love.

7. My dear friends: I know, from my own experience as a university professor, that you like concrete syntheses. The program synthesis is very simple, from what I told you: it is enclosed in a No and a Yes :

No to selfishness;
No to injustice;
No to pleasure without moral rules;
No to despair;
No to hatred and violence;
No to paths without God;
No to irresponsibility and mediocrity.

Yes to God, to Jesus Christ, to the Church;
Yes to faith and the commitment it entails;
Yes to respect for the dignity, freedom and rights of people;
Yes to the effort to elevate man and take him to God;
Yes to justice, to love, to peace;
Yes to solidarity with everyone, especially those most in need;
Yes to hope;
Yes to your duty to build a better society.

8. Remember that to live in the present you need to look at the past, moving beyond it towards the future.

The future of Central America will be in your hands; It already is in part. Try to be worthy of such great responsibility.

Jesus Christ always inspires you with his words and his example. Welcome them generously, with enthusiasm, and put them into practice. Hear the advice of the Apostle Saint James: "Be doers of the word and not just hearers, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone listens to the word and does not put it into practice, he is like a man who contemplates his appearance in a mirror; as soon as he finishes looking at himself, he leaves and forgets what he was like" ( James 1:22-24).

God's Blessing and my prayer will accompany you in this task. May the Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ our Savior, be your companion, your sister, your friend and your confidant, your Mother, today and always. So be it.

Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana