\tBelow is Catholic News Agency\u2019s translation, done by the agency's Alan Holdren and Kerri Lenartowick.<\/p>\n
\tThey are part of a group of young people that began during World Youth Day in Rio, because in Rio they wished to communicate also to the other young Flemish what they had done there; and they are a group of 12 \u2013 the others are here outside, by the way \u2013 they also came with\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \tWell I would like to say hello to them, the others, afterwards, yes!<\/p>\n \tWell we can organize that \u2026 And they are truly carrying out this task of entering, penetrating into media as young people, starting with their Christian inspiration. It is also in that sense that they would like to pose some questions to you. She, on the other hand, is not a believer \u2013 they are thus four from that group \u2013 she is not a believer, but it seemed important to us also, because we are a very secular society in Flanders, and we know that we have a message for everyone. So, she was very happy\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \tI like it! We are all brothers and sisters!<\/p>\n \tTruly, indeed. The first question is: Thank you for having accepted our request, but why did you do so?<\/strong><\/p>\n \tWhen I hear that a young man or woman is restless, I feel that it is my duty to serve these young people, to give a service to this restlessness, because this restlessness is like a seed, and later it will go on a give fruit. And, in this moment I feel that with you I am doing a service to that which is most precious, in this moment, which is your restlessness.<\/p>\n \t(Boy<\/em>) Everyone in the world seeks to be happy. But we asked ourselves, are you happy? And, why?<\/strong><\/p>\n \tAbsolutely, absolutely, I am happy. I\u2019m happy because \u2026 I don\u2019t know why \u2026 maybe because I have a job, I am not unemployed, I have work, a job as a shepherd!\u00a0 I am happy because I found my path in life and walking this path makes me happy. And it is also a serene happiness, because at this age it is not the same happiness as that of a young person, there is a difference. A certain interior peace, a great peace, a happiness that also comes with age. And also with a journey that has always had problems, even now there are problems, but this happiness doesn\u2019t go away with the problems, no. It sees the problems, it suffers them and then moves on. It does something to resolve them and moves ahead. But in the depths of the heart, there is this peace and this happiness. It is a grace of God, for me, truly. It is a grace. I don\u2019t deserve it at all.<\/p>\n \t(Boy<\/em>) You have shown your great love of the poor and the wounded in many ways. Why is this so important for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n \tBecause this is the heart of the Gospel. I am a believer. I believe in God. I believe in Jesus Christ and his Gospel.\u00a0 And, the core of the Gospel is the proclamation to the poor. When you read the Beatitudes, for example, or you read Matthew 25, you see there how Jesus is clear in this. The core of the Gospel is this. And Jesus says of himself, \u201cI came to announce to the poor, freedom, health, the grace of God\u2026\u201d To the poor. Those who need salvation, that need to be welcomed in society. Then, if you read the Gospel, you see that Jesus had a certain preference for the marginalized. The lepers, the widows, orphaned children, the blind\u2026 marginalized people. And also the great sinners\u2026 and this is my consolation! Yes, because He is not even scared of sin! When he came across a person like Zaccheus, who was a thief, or like Matthew, who was a traitor to his heritage (patria<\/em>) for money, He was not afraid! He looked at the them and he chose them. Also this is a poverty: the poverty of sin. For me, the heart of the Gospel is of the poor. I heard two months ago that someone said, for this reason (he is) speaking of the poor, because of this preference: \u201cThis Pope is a communist.\u201d No! This is a banner of the Gospel, not of Communism: of the Gospel! But poverty without ideology, poverty\u2026 And for this reason I believe that the poor are at the center of the proclamation of Jesus. It\u2019s enough just to read it. The problem is that then this attitude toward the poor sometimes, in history, has been ideologized. No, it is not like that: ideology is another thing. It is like this in the Gospel: it is simple, very simple. Also in the Old Testament, you see this. And it\u2019s for this reason that I always place it at the center.<\/p>\n \t(Girl<\/em>) I don\u2019t believe in God, but your actions and your ideals inspire me. Perhaps you have a message for all of us, for the young Christians, for people who don\u2019t believe or have other beliefs or believe in a different way?<\/strong><\/p>\n \tFor me, one must seek, in a way of speaking, authenticity. And for me, authenticity is this: I am speaking with my brothers. We are all brothers. Believers, non-believers, or those of one religious confession or another, Jews, Muslims\u2026 we are all brothers. Man is at the center of history, and this for me is very important: man is at the center. In this moment of history, man has been thrown out of the center, he has slipped out towards the periphery, and at the center \u2013 at least at this point \u2013 is power, money.\u00a0 And we must work for people, for man and woman, who are the image of God. Why young people? Because the young \u2013 I go back to what I said at the beginning \u2013 are the seed that will bear fruit along the path. But also in relation to that which I was saying now: in this world, where at the center is power, money, young people are chased away. Children are chased away \u2013 we don\u2019t want kids, we want fewer of them, small families. Children aren\u2019t wanted. The elderly are chased away. So many elderly die by way of a hidden euthanasia, because they are not cared for and they die. And now young people are chased away. Think that in Italy, for example, youth unemployment from 25 years or younger is almost 50 percent. In Spain, it is 60 percent. And, in Andalusia, in the south of Spain, it is nearly 70 percent\u2026 I don\u2019t know what the unemployment rate in Belgium might be\u2026<\/p>\n \t\u00a0\u2026 a bit less: 5-10 percent.<\/strong><\/p>\n \tThat\u2019s small. It is small, thanks be to God. But you think about what a generation of young people who don\u2019t have work means! You can say to me, \u201cBut they can eat, because their society feeds them.\u201d Yes, but this is not sufficient, because they don\u2019t have the experience of the dignity of bringing bread home. And this is the moment of the \u201cpassion of the youth.\u201d We have entered into a culture of waste. That which does not serve this globalization is discarded. The elderly, children, young people. But in this way one discards the future of a people, because in the children and youth and elderly is the future of a people. The children and the young people, because they will carry history forward: the elderly are those who must give us the memory of a people, how the path of a people has gone. If they are discarded, we will have a group of people without strength, because they will not have many young people and children, and (they will be) without memory. And, this is very grave!\u00a0 And, for this I believe that we must help young people so that they might have the role in society that in this difficult historical moment is needed.<\/p>\n \tBut do you have a specific, very concrete message for us, so that we \u2013 perhaps \u2013 might inspire other people as you do? Even people who don\u2019t believe?<\/strong><\/p>\n \tYou\u2019ve said a very important word: \u201cconcrete.\u201d\u00a0 It is an extremely important word, because in the concreteness of life you move forward. With ideas alone, you don\u2019t move forward! This is very important. And, I believe that you young people must move forward with this concreteness in life. Often also with actions tied to situations, because you must take this, this\u2026 but also with strategies\u2026 I will tell you something. I have spoken, for my work, also in Buenos Aires, with so many young politicians who came by to say hello to me. And I am happy because they \u2013 whether from the left or the right \u2013 they spoke a new music, a new style of politics. And, this gives me hope. And, I believe that youth, in this moment, must take the tempo and move ahead. Be courageous! This gives me hope. I don\u2019t know if I responded: concreteness in actions.<\/p>\n \t(Boy<\/em>) When I read the newspapers, when I look around, I ask myself if the human race is truly capable of taking care of this world and of the human race itself. Do you share my doubt? (Translator<\/em>) \u2026 We discard, as you said. Do you also feel sometimes, like doubting and saying to yourself, \u201cBut, where is God in all of this?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \tI ask myself two questions about this question: Where is God and where is man? It\u2019s the first question that, in the Gospel account God poses to man, \u201cAdam, where are you?\u201d It is the first question to man. And, also I ask myself now, \u201cYou, man of the 21st century, where are you?\u201d And, this makes me think of another question, \u201cYou, God, where are you?\u201d When man finds himself, he seeks God. Maybe he is unable to find him, but walks on a path of honesty, seeking truth, on a path of goodness and a path of beauty. For me, a young person who loves truth and seeks it, love goodness and is good, is a good person, and seeks and loves beauty, is on the good path and will surely find God! Sooner or later, he will find him! But the path is long and some people do not find it, in life. They don\u2019t find it in a conscious way. But they are so true and honest with themselves, so good and so loving of beauty that in the end they have a very mature personality, capable of an encounter with God, which is always a grace. Because the encounter with God is a grace. We cannot make the path\u2026 Some find it in other persons\u2026 It is a path to take up\u2026 Everyone must find it personally. God is not found by being heard of (from a distance) nor can you pay to find God. It is a personal path. We must find him this way. I don\u2019t know if I have responded to your question\u2026<\/p>\n \tWe are all human and we make errors. What have your errors taught you?<\/strong><\/p>\n \tI have erred, erred\u2026 In the Bible, it says, in the Book of Wisdom, that the most just man errs seven times a day! \u2026 That is to say that everyone errs\u2026 They say that man is the only animal that falls twice in the same place, but he doesn\u2019t learn immediately from his errors. One can say, \u201c I don\u2019t err,\u201d but he doesn\u2019t improve. This takes you to vanity, arrogance, pride\u2026 I think that the errors also in my life have been and are great teachers of life. Great teachers: they teach you so much. They humiliate you also because you can think yourself to be a superman, a superwoman, and then you make a mistake, and this humiliates you and puts you in your place. I wouldn\u2019t say that from all of my mistakes I have learned. No, I believe that from some I haven\u2019t learned because I am stubborn, and it isn\u2019t easy to learn. But from so many errors I have learned, and this has done me good. It has done me good. And also recognizing errors is important. I erred here, I erred there, I err there\u2026 And also being attentive not to return to the same error, to the same water-well\u2026 It is a good thing, the dialogue with our own errors, because they teach us. And the important thing is that they help you to become a bit more humble, humility does so much good, so much good to people, to us, it does us good. I don\u2019t know if this was the answer\u2026<\/p>\n \t(Translator<\/em>) Do you have a concrete example of how you learned from an error? She (the girl who asked the question<\/em>) ventures\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \tNo, I will tell you. I wrote it in a book, it is public. For example, in guiding the life of the Church. I was appointed superior very young, and I made so many errors with authoritarianism, for example. I was too authoritarian, at 36 years old\u2026 And then I learned that one must dialogue, you must listen to what the others think\u2026 But you don\u2019t learn once and for all, no. It is a long road. This is a concrete example. And, I learned from my slightly authoritarian attitude, as a religious superior, to find a path to not be so much like that, or to be more\u2026 but I still err! Is she happy?\u2026 Does she want to venture to say something else?<\/p>\n \t(Girl<\/em>) I see God in others. Where do you see God?<\/strong><\/p>\n \tI seek \u2013 seek! \u2013 to find him in all of life\u2019s circumstances. I seek\u2026 I find him in the reading of the Bible, I find him in the celebration of the Sacraments, in prayer and also in my work I seek to find him, in the people, in different people\u2026 Most of all, I find him in the sick. The sick do me good, because I ask myself, when I am with a sick person, why this one yes and me no? And with those in prison I find him. Why is this person incarcerated and not me? And I speak with God, \u201cYou always make injustices, why to this person and not to me?\u201d And, I find God in this, but always in dialogue. It does me good to look for him during the entire day. I am unable to do it, but I try to do this, to be in dialogue. I am not able to do it precisely like that. The saints did this well, I still don\u2019t \u2026 but I am on the path.<\/p>\n \t(Girl<\/em>) Since I don\u2019t believe in God, I am unable to understand how you pray or why you pray. Can you explain how you pray, in your role as Pontiff, and why you pray? The most concrete way possible\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \tHow I pray\u2026 Often I take the Bible, I read it a bit, then I leave it and I let myself be looked at by the Lord. That is the most common idea in my prayer. I allow myself to be looked at by Him. And I feel \u2013 but it isn\u2019t sentimentalism \u2013 I feel deeply the things that the Lord tells me. Sometimes he doesn\u2019t speak\u2026 nothing, empty, empty, empty\u2026 but patiently I am there, and I pray this way\u2026 I am seated, I pray seated, because it hurts me to kneel, and sometimes I fall asleep in prayer\u2026 It is also a way of praying, as a son with the Father, and this is important. I feel like a son with the Father. And why do I pray? \u201cWhy\u201d as a cause or for whom do I pray?<\/p>\n \tBoth\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \tI pray, because I need to. This I feel, which pushes me, as if God called me to speak. The first thing. And I pray for people, when I meet people that strike me because they are sick or have problems, or there are problems that\u2026 for example, war\u2026 Today I was with the Nuncio of Syria, and he showed me photographs\u2026 and I\u2019m sure that this afternoon I will pray for this, for those people\u2026 I was shown photographs of those who have died of hunger, their bones were like this\u2026 at this time, I cannot understand this, when we have (everything) necessary to feed the entire world, that there are people dying of hunger- for me it\u2019s terrible! And this makes me pray, precisely for these people.<\/p>\n \tI have my fears. What are you afraid of?<\/strong><\/p>\n \tOf myself! Fear\u2026 Look, in the Gospel, Jesus repeats often, \u201cDo not be afraid! Do not be afraid!\u201d So many time he says it. And, why? Because he knows that fear is a, I would say, normal thing. We are fearful of life, we are afraid before the challenges, we are afraid before God\u2026 All of us are afraid, everyone. You should not be worried about being afraid. You must feel this but not be afraid and then think, \u201cWhy am I scared?\u201d And, before God and before yourself, seek to clarify the situation or ask help of another. Fear is not a good counselor, because it gives you bad advice. It pushes you onto a path that is not right. For this reason, Jesus said so often, \u201cDo not be afraid! Do not be afraid!\u201d Then, we must know ourselves, all of us. Everyone must know himself and seek where the zone is in which we may err the most, and have a bit of fear of that area, because there is bad fear and good fear. Good fear is like prudence. It is a prudent attitude. \u201cLook, you are weak in this, this and this, be prudent and don\u2019t fall.\u201d Bad fear is that which you say and which nullifies you a bit, erases you. It nullifies you, it doesn\u2019t allow you to do something. This is bad and it must be thrown out.<\/p>\n \t(Translator<\/em>) She (the girl) has posed this question because sometimes it is not easy in Belgium, for example, to speak of one\u2019s own faith. This was for her also a way, because so many don\u2019t believe, and she said, \u201cI want to pose this question because I also want to have the strength to bear witness.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \tThere it is, now I understand the root of the question. Bearing witness with simplicity. Because if you go with your faith as a flag, like the crusades, and you go out and proselytize, that doesn\u2019t work. The best way is testimony, but humble, \u201cI am like this,\u201d with humility, without triumphalism. That is another sin of ours, another bad attitude, triumphalism. Jesus was not triumphalist and also history teaches us not to be triumphalist, because the great triumphalists were defeated. Testimony: this is a key, this question. I give it with humility, without proselytizing. I offer it. It is so. And this is not scary. You are not going on the crusades.<\/p>\n \t(Translator<\/em>) There is a final question\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \tThe last one? It is the terrible one, the last one, always\u2026<\/p>\n \tOur last question, do you have a question for us?<\/strong><\/p>\n \tThe question I want to ask you is not original. I take it from the Gospel. But I think that after hearing it, maybe it will be the right one for you in the this moment. Where is your treasure? This is the question. Where does your heart rest? On what treasure does your heart rest? Because there where your treasure is will be your life. The heart is attached to the treasure, to a treasure that all of us have: power, money, pride, so many\u2026 or goodness, beauty, the will to do good\u2026 There can be so many treasures. Where is your treasure? This is the question I would like to ask you, but you will have to give the response yourselves, alone! At your home\u2026<\/p>\n \tThey will let you know by letter\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \tHave them give it to the bishop\u2026 Thanks! Thank you, thanks! And pray for me.<\/p>\n