“The first reality I invite you to consider today is the urgency of offering young people an education that guides them towards the needs of others and rewards the sense of effort. Young people, as they grow, need an ideal, because they are fundamentally generous, they are fundamentally open to existential questions. It is a mistake to think that young people do not aspire to anything other than lounging on the sofa or on social networks! It is a mistake: this is not true. Involving young people, involving them in the real world, in a visit to the elderly or to disabled people, a visit to the poor or migrants, this opens them to the joy of hospitality and giving, offering some comfort to people who are made invisible by a wall of indifference. It is curious how indifference kills human sensibility: how it kills! There already exist several noteworthy initiatives that demand only to be followed, encouraged and multiplied!”
“I also hope that, with your contribution too, the debate on the essential question of the end of life can be conducted in truth. It is a matter of accompanying life to its natural end through a more extensive development of palliative care. As you know, people at the end of life need to be supported by assistants who are faithful to their vocation, which is that of providing assistance and relief even while not being able to cure. Words are not always necessary, but taking a sick person by the hand, taking them by the hand, this does a great deal of good and not only to the sick person, but to us too.”
Address of Pope Francis to the members of the French parliament in Rome. Saturday, November 30 2024.
