Pope Francis on saturday night underlined the importance he attaches to grassroots renewal of he Catholic Church by appealing to his young followers to become key players of a fresh and meaningful project of evangelisation.
“We are building a church and you must become protagonists of history,” he told a gathering of Wold Youth Day that had grown to overthree million on Rio’s Copacabana beach by today, sunday, the final day.
In a scene which has been repeated through the week, the Pope looked relaxad as he engaged with the masses, blessing numerous babies while stepping down occasionally from his Papamovil to draw himself more personally to pilgrims and meet outstretch hands.
If this week has had the air of a campaign trail, then it is because Pope Francis is clear in his mission to win hearts and minds,to boost the faithful ,speaking a language for out times, and with a sense of Christianity’s early roots as a Church of the people, full of hope in the future.
Later, as he preached at the evening vigil, his love of football showed as he drew an analogy between a good team and a Church that did not betray its following,but drew it into a positive relationship with Jesus, and through him, with the world, making of it a more just, equitable, and spiritual place.
“Jesus asks us to play in his team but he offers us something greater than the World Cup- a life that is truly happy and fulfilled,” he said.
In words aimed not at young people, but all those who feel alienated by the institutional church, he went on: “We want to build a Church that is big enough to accomadate al humanity.”
This was a universal pastor speaking, deeply conscious of the damage to the Church’s reputation of sex abuse scandals , financial corruption, and its perceived denigration of the love shared by people of the same sex.
In his homily, Pope Francis invited those listening to lend themselves to rare moment of collective silence and contemplation, and to be open to and trust it the humanity of Christ, not to feel rejected, excluded, or condemned. “ Do not look at the thorns and the stones but on the small grain of soil where seed can be sown….If you have erred, do not fear. Jesus understands.”
In his evident physicality with the crowds and his dialogue with the people (much too engaging to be called a sermon), Francis projects a living witness to the beauty and dignity of life, and the fundamental unity of the human person. He has strengthened and won over many young people with his direct and unpatronising way of addressing them. Nothing sanctionious about Francis . He is moving the Vatican from autocracy to accountability. . And here in Latin America, continent of struggle and yet of huge promise,this Pope of immeasurable energy and inspiration , has instilled a new dynamic into the Church’s social doctrine and its option for the poor, which governments and voters will be hard pressed to ignore.
