Pope to young people: 'Make a mess'

Thank you... Thank you... for being here today, for coming ... Thanks to those who are inside and thank you very much to those outside. About 30,000, I am told are outside. From here I greet you. You are in the rain ... Thank you for the gesture of coming... Thanks for coming to World Youth Day. I suggested to Dr. Gasbarri, who is handling, organizing the trip, if perhaps there was a little place where I could meet you, and in half a day he had arranged everything. So I also want to publicly thank Dr. Gasbarri for what he has achieved today.

Let me say one thing: What do I expect as a result of World Youth Day? I hope for a mess. That there's going to be a mess in here, there will be. That here in Rio there will be a mess, there will be. But I want there to be a mess in the dioceses, I want you to go outside... I want the Church to hit the street, I want us to defend ourselves from all that is worldliness, from whatever is set, from whatever is comfortable, from whatever is clericalism, from whatever keeps us locked inside ourselves.

The parishes, schools, institutions are to go out, otherwise they become an NGO, and the Church cannot be an NGO. Forgive me, bishops and priests, if you are handed a mess afterward, but... That is my advice. And thanks for whatever you can do.

Look, I think that, at this time, this global civilization has gone too far, we have gone too far, because there is such worship of the god of money, that we are witnessing a philosophy and practice of exclusion of the two poles of life that are the promise of peoples. Exclusion of the elderly, of course, because one could think that there might be a kind of hidden euthanasia, that is, not caring for the elderly; but also a cultural euthanasia: they are not allowed to speak, they are not allowed to act.

And youths are excluded. The percentage of young people who are out of work, unemployed, is very high, and this is a generation that has not experienced the dignity earned by work. So this civilization has led us to exclude the two ends, which are our future. So young people you have to go out, you have to make yourselves valuable; young people have to go out and fight for values, to fight for those values; and the elderly, open your mouths, open your mouths and teach us; transmit to us the wisdom of peoples.

To the Argentine people, I ask you from my heart, to the elderly: do not shirk from being the cultural reserve of our people who transmit justice, who convey the story, who transmit values, who convey the memory of peoples. And you, please do not mess with the old, let them talk, listen to them, and carry on. But know, know that, at this time, you young people and the elderly are doomed to the same fate: exclusion; do not allow yourselves to be excluded. Is that clear? That’s why I think you have to work.

And faith in Jesus Christ is not a joke, it is something very serious. It is a scandal that God has come to be one of us; it is a scandal that he died on the Cross, it’s a scandal: the scandal of the Cross. The Cross is still a scandal, but it is the only sure path: that of the Cross, that of Jesus, the incarnation of Jesus.

Please do not liquefy the faith in Jesus Christ. There are orange smoothies, apple smoothies, banana smoothies, but please do not take a faith smoothie. Faith is solid, not liquefied. It is faith in Jesus. It is faith in the Son of God made man, who loved me and died for me.

Then: Make a mess; take care of the people at the ends, the elderly and the young; do not allow yourselves to be excluded and do not exclude the elderly. Second: do not liquefy the faith in Jesus Christ. The Beatitudes. What should we do, Father? Here, read the Beatitudes, those are going to come in handy. And if you want to know what practical thing you have to do, read Matthew 25, which is the protocol by which we will be judged. Those two things are the action plan: The Beatitudes and Matthew 25. You do not need to read anything else. I ask you from my heart.

Well, thank you for this closeness. I am sorry you are caged. But I tell you one thing: I, at times, feel: How ugly it is to be caged! I confess it from my heart ... But we'll see ... I understand you. And I would have liked to be closer to you, but I understand that, for reasons of order, it cannot be. Thanks for coming near, thanks for praying for me; I ask you from my heart, I need, I need your prayers, I need them a lot. Thanks for that ... And, well, I'll give the blessing and then we will bless the image of the Virgin, which will travel around the republic ... and the cross of St. Francis, which will travel “missionary style.” But do not forget: Make a mess, look after the two extremes of life, the two ends of the history of peoples, who are the elderly and the young, and do not liquefy the faith.

And now let us pray to bless the image of the Virgin and then give you the blessing.

We stand for the blessing, but first I want to thank Bishop Arancedo, who out of pure rudeness I did not thank earlier, for what he said. So thank you for your words.

Prayer:
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace....

Lord, You left your mother among us, to accompany us. May she care for us, protect us on our way, in our hearts, in our faith. May she make disciples of us, as she was, and missionaries, as she was. May she teach us to go out, to go beyond ourselves.

Bless this image, Lord, that will tour the country. May she with her gentleness, her peace, show us the way.

Lord, You're a scandal, the scandal of the Cross. A cross that is humility, meekness; a Cross that speaks of the nearness of God.

Bless also this image of the Cross, which will tour the country.

Thank you very much and we will see each other these days.

May God bless you and pray for me. Do not forget.