Search

The article, starting from the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Christus vivit, offers some perspectives of engagement for the renewal of the youth ministry and vocation, also in light of the experience of Catholic Action: growing in personal and community discernment, building paths to encourage the protagonism of young people, renewing pastoral care in a missionary and popular sense, enhancing people's desire for social and political commitment. Listening to young people helps the Church to rethink itself and to bet on this continuous renewal, thus getting free from useless anachronisms. Finally, the positive relationship between young people and adults, which characterizes the life of Catholic Action, is an indispensable perspective for a fruitful ecclesial life and a real social reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intergenerational dimension is a possible key to reading Christus vivit. Pope Francis' eyes show the right perspective with which to look at the juvenile world, capable of attitudes of willingness and holiness. Today it is difficult to define the periods of adolescence, youth, and adulthood; but the adult cannot separate themselves from their role, that they should develop first of all through example. To speak of youth means, furthermore, facing questions and reflections both bioethical and biopolitical. Today the virus of self-sufficiency threatens humanity and distances it from the discovery of its own origin, working to find oneself in God. The Synod an ecclesiological aspect, because dialogue also develops in the Church, where the identities and personalities of young people develop, in a manner of adequate communication to the times and that can be summarized in a single world: listening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth is a great gift, a grace, a fortune. Pope Francis used these words in his apostolic exhortation Christus vivit. The Pope speaks directly to the heart of each single young person in the world. The article makes clear how the Church should set up its relationship with today's youth, but also how the educational processes must take into account the rapid changes of the modern society. The author pays attention to the world of the young, to the right questions the ecclesial and pastoral paths should raise, without forgetting the educational dimension and its emergency. The theological foundation is still the icon of the Trinitarian Agape-God, who founds the identity and the mission of the Church in its being charity, unmissable principle of any educational relationship and communion. The horizon of every educational process is to accompany and awake faith in the young, inside communities capable of building authentic relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people, evangelization and liturgy. The contribution analyzes a particularly current topic, coming in the trail of the recent Synod of Bishops that took place in Rome from 3 to 28 October in the last year. The subject is analyzed in three phases: the first part shows the analysis of the current secularized context in relation to the new evangelization; then on the grounds of a recent sociological survey, we try to understand the reasons why young people want to look for a God as they like; at last we try to understand the liturgy and the celebration in its epistemological status, in order to find those places in it, where young people can feel involved for a full, active and conscious participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author, after having collected the most recent theological and pastoral reflections about popular piety, brings out its ontological link with the church liturgy, through the analysis of one of these forms: "Beggars Mass". After obtaining the finding of the last surveys on youth, he explains why following popular spirituality is a suitable way to educate young people and develop their faith, as required by the last preparatory document of the episcopal synod about young people. The strong point of this choice lies in Maria's beauty, that is not derived from her youth but, theologically, from her connection to Christ. The pain of Christ on the cross illuminates the human features of the young woman of Nazaret, so she appears to be close to young people of our time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]