Pope: "Adolescents under armor ask to be loved"

"Under the armor that many adolescents build so as not to suffer, lies the desire to love and be loved", said Pope Leo XIV speaking at the International Congress on School and University Pastoral Care.

The Pontiff speaks of young people and invites us to pay attention to their "conditions of existential distress. Wounded families, digital loneliness, feelings of inadequacy or fear in the face of a future that appears uncertain", he added.

"Confidence pact with young people for a more just society"

The Pope, in the audience with those who deal with the education of young people in the Church, asks them to help them "to be protagonists of a new way of inhabiting the world, builders of brotherhood, of a more just society. Courage - highlighted Leone - comes from a pact of trust: from the experience of someone who believes in you before you believe in yourself".

Today "false teachers and misleading messages promise to quickly respond to young people's questions. You - said the Pontiff addressing those involved in school and university pastoral care -, instead, have chosen to do something greater: walk with them along the road, until they discover the gifts that God has already placed in them".

"How many students also experience conditions of existential distress! Hurt families, digital loneliness, feelings of inadequacy or fear in the face of a future that appears uncertain. Many pass through the corridors of our institutes and universities and perhaps feel anonymous", adds the pontiff. "How important it is - he observes - that Catholic schools and universities are, first of all, "home", a familiar place where you are expected. The first announcement often comes through a style of welcome: someone who looks you in the eye, who remembers your name, who notices your absence, who rejoices in your return".

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