Pope urges young people to ‘download’ compassion

Pope Francis brought the curtain down on the World Youth Day celebrations in Poland on Sunday with a message to young Catholics that was strong on hope and full of contemporary "digital" language.

He urged the estimated 1.5 million young Catholics gathered at the “Field of Mercy” outside Krakow to “download” a good heart and prioritise prayer over internet “chat”.

God’s memory was not a “hard disk” filled with files on everyone, but more of a compassionate heart that wants to help them “erase” evil, he said.

“You are important. God counts on you for what you are, not for what you possess. In his eyes, the clothes you wear or the kind of cell phone you use are of no importance. He doesn’t care whether you are stylish or not, he cares about you.

“Say a firm ‘no’ to the narcotic of success at any cost and the sedative of worrying only  about yourself and your own comfort...

“People may judge you to be dreamers, because you believe in a new humanity, one that rejects hatred between peoples, one that refuses to see borders as barriers and can cherish its own traditions without being self-centred or small-minded.

“Don’t be discouraged...Don’t stop at the surface of things; distrust the world cult of appearances, cosmetic attempts to improve our looks. Instead, ‘download’ the best ‘link’ of all, that of a heart which sees and transmits goodness without growing weary.”

The pope’s final message to young Catholics contrasted sharply with sombre messages on war and violence which have inevitably dominated this World Youth Day event.

Responding to the killing by Islamic fundamentalists of Rouen priest Father Jacques Hamel last Tuesday, the Pope on the plane on the way to Krakow had pronounced that the "world is at war".

On Friday night after his keynote visit to the Auschwitz-Birekenau death camp, he said that “cruelty did not end at Auschwitz, at Birkenau”, adding: “We say: yes, we saw the cruelty of seventy years ago, how people were put to death by being shot, or hanged, or with gas. But today in many places in the world, where there is war, the same thing is happening...”

Then on Saturday evening, Francis visited the Church of St Francis in Krakow, a church which houses the memory of two Polish Franciscan martyrs, Zbigniew Strzalkowski and Michal Tomaszek, killed by the "Sendero Luminoso" movement in Peru in 1991. Here, he offered a powerful prayer, saying: "We come to You (Oh Lord) today to ask You to keep in peace the world and its people, to keep far away from it the devastating wave of terrorism...

“We pray to You also for all those who have died as victims of brutal terrorist attacks. Grant them their eternal reward.”

Having called on God to “touch the hearts of terrorists so that they may recognize the evil of their actions”, the Pope also told young people at the Saturday night, open air “sleepover” vigil that Christians must not meet hate with hate, violence with violence or terror with terror.

“Our response to a world at war has a name: its name is fraternity, its name is brotherhood, its name is communion, its name is family.”

Saying that people do not appreciate situations which they see only “on the screen of a cell phone or a computer”, the Pope also drew attention to the testimony of a young Syrian who told the vigil gathering of the pain and suffering in his native country.

Before returning to Rome, the Pope ended his homily by making the expected announcement that the next World Youth Day would be in Panama in 2019.