At 5:45pm today, in the Meazza-San Siro Stadium in Milan, the Holy Father, Pope Francis met with recently-Confirmed young men and women.
At the entrance to the Stadium, the Pope was welcomed by the President of the structure, Roberto Ruozzi.
During the encounter, the Pope responded to some questions asked by one of the boys who had recently been confirmed, as well as a married couple and one of the catechists.
Question asked by one of the boys:
Hi, I am Davide and I come from Cornaredo. I want to ask you a question: For you, when you were our age, what helped you to grow in your friendship with Jesus?
Pope Francis:
Good evening! David asked a very simple question, which it is easy for me to answer, because all I have to do is a bit of memory of the times in which I was your age. And his question is: When you were our age, what helped you to grow in your friendship with Jesus? There are three things, but with a connecting line that unites all three of them. The first thing that helped me was my grandmothers. But Father, how can grandmothers help us to grow in love with Jesus? What do you think? Can they or can't they?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
But grandmothers are old!
Children:
No!
Pope Francis:
No? They are not old?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
They are old ... Grandmothers are from another time: grandmothers don't know how to use a computer, they don't have cell phones ... I'll ask another time: grandmothers, can they help us to grow in our friendship with Jesus?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
And this was my experience: my grandmothers spoke normally about the things of life. One of my grandfathers was a carpenter and he taught me how Jesus learned the same trade by working with his father, and in this way, when I watched my grandfather, I would think about Jesus. The other grandmother used to tell me to never go to bed without saying a word to Jesus, telling him good night. My grandmother taught me to pray, and even my mother; the other grandmother did the same thing ... What's important is this: grandparents have the wisdom of life. What do grandparents have?
Children:
The wisdom of life.
Pope Francis:
They have the wisdom of life. And with this wisdom, they teach us how to go closer to Jesus. They did this with me. First of all, my grandparents. A word of advice: speak with your grandparents. Speak to them, ask them all the questions you want. Listen to them. This is important, in these modern times, it's important to speak with grandparents. Have you understood?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
And you, those of you whose grandparents are still alive, do you make an effort to speak with them, to ask them questions, to listen to them? Do you make an effort to do this? Do you do this work?
Children:
Yes.
Pope Francis:
You don't sound too convinced. Do you do this work?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
Grandparents. Then, it helped me a lot to play with friends, because playing well, playing and feeling the joy of playing with friends, without insulting one another, and thinking that this was the way Jesus must have played ... But, ask yourself, did Jesus play? O no?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
But he was God! God no, he can't play ... Did Jesus play?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
You are sure. Yes, Jesus played, and he played with others. And it is good for us to play with our friends, because when we play cleanly, we learn to respect others, we learn to form a squad, a team, we learn to work all together. And this unites us with Jesus. Playing with friends. But - there is something that I believe one of you said - does fighting with our friends help us to know Jesus?
Children:
No!
Pope Francis:
What was that?
Children:
No!
Pope Francis:
Good. And if someone fights, because it is normal to fight, but afterwards he says that he's sorry, that's the end of the story. Is it clear?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
It helped me a lot to play with friends. And a third thing that helped me to grow in friendship with Jesus and with the parish, the oratory, was to go to the parish, to go to the oratory and to spend time with others: this is important! Do you like to go to your parish?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
Do you like - but tell me the truth - do you like to go to Mass?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis (laughing):
I'm not sure ... Do you like to go to your local oratory?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
Ah, yes, this you like. And these three things you will do - truly, this is a word of advice that I offer to you - these three things you should do to grow in friendship with Jesus: speak with your grandparents, play with your friends and go to your parish and your parish oratory. Because, with these three things, you will pray more. (applause) And prayer is the thread that unites these three things. Thank you. (applause)
Question asked by two parents:
Good evening. We are Monica and Alberto, and we are parents of three children, the last one will be Confirmed next October. The question that we want to ask you is this: how can we pass on the beauty of the faith to our children? Sometimes, it seems so complicated to speak about these things without becoming boring or banal or, worse yet, authoritarian. What words should we use?
Pope Francis:
Thank you. I had these questions ahead of time ... Yes, because they sent them to me, and in order to be clear about my response, I took a few moments, I wrote something, and now I want to respond to Monica and Alberto.
a. I believe that this is one of the key questions that touches on our lives as parents: the transmission of the faith, and it also touches on our lives as pastors, and as educators. The transmission of the faith. And I would like to ask you this question. I invite you to recall who were the persons who left a mark on your faith and what was it about them that remained most impressed upon you. The things that the children just asked me, I ask them of you. Who are the people, what are the situations, the things that helped you to grow in faith? I invite you parents to become, with the help of your imagination, for just a few moments, children, and remember the people who helped you to grow. Who helped me to grow? My father, my mother, my grandparents, my catechists, an aunt, the pastor, a neighbour, who knows ... We carry them all in our memory, but especially we carry in our hearts someone who has helped us to believe. Now, I'll give you a challenge. Let's be silent for a moment ... and everyone think: who helped me to believe? And I respond for myself, and in order to tell the truth I have to return to the memory of Lombardy ... (great applause). For me, one of the people who helped me a lot, who helped me to grow in my faith, was a priest from Lodi, from the Diocese of Lodi; a good priest who baptized me and then all through my life, I would go to him; sometimes more often, at other times less so ...; and he accompanied me until I entered the Jesuit novitiate. I am grateful to you Lombards for this gift, thank you! (applause). And i will never forget that priest, never, never. He was an apostle of the confessional, an apostle of the confessional. Merciful, good, a hard worker. This is how he helped me to grow.
Everyone of us has thought of a person? I told you who helped me.
You may be wondering why I used this little exercise. Our children are always watching us; even when we are not paying attention, they are observing us all the time and learning at the same time. (applause) The children are watching us: this is the title of a film by Vittorio De Sica from 1943. Look for it. Look for it. The children are watching us. And, by the way, I'd like to say that these Italian post-war films and a bit afterwards, were - generally - a true source of catechesis about humanity. Close the parentheses. The children are watching, and you cannot imagine the anguish that a child feels when his parents are fighting. They suffer! (applause) And when parents separate, they are the ones who pay the price. (applause) When we bring a child into the world, we should be conscious of this: we take on the responsibility to help this child to grow in faith. It would be very useful for you to read the Exhortation Amoris laetitia, especially the first chapters, on love, matrimony, the fourth chapter which is a must, a key part. But don't forget: when you fight, your children suffer and their faith does not grow (applause). Children know our joys, our sorrows and our preoccupations. They manage to capture everything, they notice everything, and since they are very very intuitive, they draw their own conclusions and intuit their own lessons. They know when we are setting traps for them and when we aren't. They know. They are very clever. Therefore, one of the first things that I would say to you is: take care of them, take care of their hearts, their joys and their hopes.
Your children's little eyes eventually memorize and read with the heart how faith is one of the best inheritances that they could ever receive from their parents and from your ancestors. If they realize it. And if you give them faith and live it well, faith will be passed on.
Show them how faith helps us to go on, to face the many challenges that we face, not with pessimism but with trust, this is the best witness that you can give to them. There is a saying: Words are like wind, but what they sow in our memories, in our hearts, remains forever.
b. Another thing. In various places, many families have a very beautiful tradition of going to Mass together and afterwards they go to the park, they take their children to play together. In this way, faith becomes a part of the family and includes other families, with friends, family friends ... This is good and it helps us to live the commandment of keeping feast days holy. Not only going to church to pray or to sleep during the homily - it happens! - not only this, but then going to play together. Now that we have begun this beautiful day, for example, on Sunday after having gone to Mass with the family, it is good to be able to go to the park or to a square, to play, to spend some time together. In my homeland, this practice is called dominguear, spending Sunday together. But our climate makes it difficult to do this at times because many parents, in order to feed their families, have to work even on festival days. And this is terrible. I always ask parents, when they tell me that they lose patience with their children, my first question is always: How many children do you have? - Three, four, they tell me. And I ask them a second question: Do you play with your children? - Play? And they don't know what to say. Parents in our times cannot, or they have lost the habit of playing with their children, of spending time with their children. A father once said to me: Father, when I leave to go to work, they are still in bed, and when I return late at night, they are already in bed. I only see them on festival days. This is terrible! This kind of life kills humanity! Keep in mind: playing with the children, spending time with children is also an act of transmitting faith. It is free, the grace of God.
c. And one last thing: family education in solidarity. This is an act of transmitting faith with education in solidarity, in the works of mercy. The works of mercy make faith grow in our hearts. This is very important. I like to place the accent on celebration, on gratitude, on seeking other families and living faith as a something to be enjoyed; I believe that it is also necessary to add another element. There can be no feast without solidarity. Like there can be no solidarity without a feast, because when we are in solidarity, we are joyous and we share our joy.
I don't want to bore you, but I want to share with you something that I encountered in Buenos Aires. A mother was at lunch with her three children: they were six, four and a half and three years old; and there were two others. her husband was at work. They were at lunch, each of them was eating a cutlet alla milanese, yes, because they told me, and every one of the children had one in his or her plate. There was a knock at the door. The oldest of the children went to open the door and returned saying: Mama, there is a poor man who is asking for something to eat. And the mother, she was wise, asked: What should we do? Should we give him something or not? - Yes, mama, let's give him something! There were other cutlets there. The mother said: Ah, great: let us make two sandwiches: all of you cut your cutlets in half and let us make two sandwiches. - Mama, but what about these! - No, they are for supper. And in this way, the mother taught them to be in solidarity, but also that there is a cost involved! For example, this would normally be enough, but you will laugh to hear the end of the story. One week later, the mother had to go to the grocery store, in the afternoon, at about four o'clock, and she left the three children alone for about an hour - they were good children. She went shopping. When the mother came home, there were not only three children, there were four! In addition to the three children, there was a beggar (laughter) who had asked for money and they had invited him in; together, they were drinking caffelatte ... This is an ending that makes us laugh a bit ... Teaching children about solidarity, about the works of mercy. Thank you.
Question asked by a catechist:
Good evening, I am Valeria, a mother and a catechist from one of the parishes in Milan, from Rogoredo. You have taught us that we need a village in order to teach a child: our Archbishop also has inspired us over the years to work together, so that there will be a level of collaboration between various educating figures. So we want to ask you for some advice, so that we can open ourselves to a dialogue and to a comparison with all the educators who have a role to play with teaching our children ...
Pope Francis:
a. I suggest an education based on think-feel-do, an education for the intellect, the heart and the hands, all three languages. Teach in harmony with these three languages, so that your young people - boys and girls - can think about what they are feeling and doing, feel what they are thinking and doing, and do what they are thinking and feeling. Don't separate these three things, but keep all three together. Don't teach only the intellect: this will give them intellectual ideas, which are important, but without the heart and he hands ideas are useless. There should be harmony in education. But we can also say: teach with content, ideas and attitudes about life and with values. We can also say it this way. But never teach only, for example, with notions and ideas. No. The heart should also be able to grow through education; and also the ability to do things, people's attitudes, their behaviour in life.
b. In reference to the preceding point, I remember that once in a school there was a graduate who was a phenomenal soccer player but he was a disaster in class. One rule that we had given him was that if he did not behave in class he would have to stop playing soccer, which he loved so much! Since he continued his bad behaviour, he spent two months without being able to play, and this made matters worse. Be careful when you punish: this boy got worse. It's true, I knew him, this boy. One day, his coach spoke to the principal, and explained: Things are not going well! Let me try, the principal said, and he asked if the child could begin playing again. Let's try, said the woman. The coach put him in as captain of the squad. That child, that young man felt valued, he felt as though he could do better, and he began not only to behave better, but his performance also got better. It seems to me that this is very important in education. Very important. Among our students, there are some who are inspired by sports and not so much by science, but others succeed better at art rather than at mathematics while others excel at philosophy rather than at sports. A good teacher, an educator or a coach knows how to inspire good qualities in his students while not neglecting the others. In such cases, he provides the pedagogical phenomenon known as transference: doing one thing well and pleasantly, the benefit transfers to the others. Look for the places where students have more responsibility, where they are happier, and they will do well. It is always good to motivate them, but children also need to have fun and to sleep. Teaching alone, without making space for gratitude is not good.
And I finish with one more thing. There is a terrible phenomenon in recent times, that is very concerning for me, in education: bullying. Please, be careful (thunderous applause) Now, I ask you, newly Confirmed young people. In silence, listen to me. In silence. In your school, in your neighbourhood, is there someone about whom you make fun, that you play tricks on because they have a defect, because they are fat, because they are thin ... this one, or that one? Think about them. And do you like to make them feel ashamed and even hit them or beat them because of those things? Think about it. This behaviour is called bullying. Please ... (increasing applause) No, no! I am not finished. Please, for the sake of the Sacrament of Holy Confirmation, make a promise to the Lord to never do this and to never allow anyone else to do this in your college, in your school, in your neighbourhood. Do you understand?
Children:
Yes! (thunderous applause)
Pope Francis:
Promise me: never, never make fun of others, play tricks on school friends, children in your neighbourhood ... Do you promise me this, today?
Children:
Yes.
Pope Francis:
The Pope is not happy with your response ... Do you promise me this?
Children:
(shouting) Yes!
Pope Francis:
Good. This yes, you have said to the Pope. Now, in silence, think about how terrible this behaviour is, and think about whether you are able to make such a promise to Jesus. Can you promise Jesus that you will never be a bully?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
You promise Jesus ...
Children:
(shouting) Yes!
Pope Francis:
Thank you. And may the Lord bless you!
Congratulations to all of you (the children who had performed the choreography on the field): you are very good!
Let us pray together: Our Father ...
(Blessing)
Please, I ask you to pray for me. And before we leave, one more question: with whom should we speak more often at home?
Children:
With our grandparents!
Pope Francis:
Good! And you, parents, what should you do more often with your children?
Parents:
Play!
Pope Francis:
Play. And you teachers, how can you make education better, with what kind of language? With the language of the head, the heart and the hands!
Thank you and good bye!
At the conclusion of the meeting, at 7:00pm, the Holy Father travelled to Milan's Linate airport where, at 7:40pm, he bid farewell to the persons who had welcomed him this morning and left for the return trip to Rome. The aircraft carrying Pope Francis landed at Rome's Ciampino airport at 8:45pm. Then, at 9:15pm, the Pope returned to the Vatican.
At the entrance to the Stadium, the Pope was welcomed by the President of the structure, Roberto Ruozzi.
During the encounter, the Pope responded to some questions asked by one of the boys who had recently been confirmed, as well as a married couple and one of the catechists.
Responses of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
to some questions asked during his encounter
with recently confirmed young people
Question asked by one of the boys:
Hi, I am Davide and I come from Cornaredo. I want to ask you a question: For you, when you were our age, what helped you to grow in your friendship with Jesus?
Pope Francis:
Good evening! David asked a very simple question, which it is easy for me to answer, because all I have to do is a bit of memory of the times in which I was your age. And his question is: When you were our age, what helped you to grow in your friendship with Jesus? There are three things, but with a connecting line that unites all three of them. The first thing that helped me was my grandmothers. But Father, how can grandmothers help us to grow in love with Jesus? What do you think? Can they or can't they?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
But grandmothers are old!
Children:
No!
Pope Francis:
No? They are not old?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
They are old ... Grandmothers are from another time: grandmothers don't know how to use a computer, they don't have cell phones ... I'll ask another time: grandmothers, can they help us to grow in our friendship with Jesus?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
And this was my experience: my grandmothers spoke normally about the things of life. One of my grandfathers was a carpenter and he taught me how Jesus learned the same trade by working with his father, and in this way, when I watched my grandfather, I would think about Jesus. The other grandmother used to tell me to never go to bed without saying a word to Jesus, telling him good night. My grandmother taught me to pray, and even my mother; the other grandmother did the same thing ... What's important is this: grandparents have the wisdom of life. What do grandparents have?
Children:
The wisdom of life.
Pope Francis:
They have the wisdom of life. And with this wisdom, they teach us how to go closer to Jesus. They did this with me. First of all, my grandparents. A word of advice: speak with your grandparents. Speak to them, ask them all the questions you want. Listen to them. This is important, in these modern times, it's important to speak with grandparents. Have you understood?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
And you, those of you whose grandparents are still alive, do you make an effort to speak with them, to ask them questions, to listen to them? Do you make an effort to do this? Do you do this work?
Children:
Yes.
Pope Francis:
You don't sound too convinced. Do you do this work?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
Grandparents. Then, it helped me a lot to play with friends, because playing well, playing and feeling the joy of playing with friends, without insulting one another, and thinking that this was the way Jesus must have played ... But, ask yourself, did Jesus play? O no?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
But he was God! God no, he can't play ... Did Jesus play?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
You are sure. Yes, Jesus played, and he played with others. And it is good for us to play with our friends, because when we play cleanly, we learn to respect others, we learn to form a squad, a team, we learn to work all together. And this unites us with Jesus. Playing with friends. But - there is something that I believe one of you said - does fighting with our friends help us to know Jesus?
Children:
No!
Pope Francis:
What was that?
Children:
No!
Pope Francis:
Good. And if someone fights, because it is normal to fight, but afterwards he says that he's sorry, that's the end of the story. Is it clear?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
It helped me a lot to play with friends. And a third thing that helped me to grow in friendship with Jesus and with the parish, the oratory, was to go to the parish, to go to the oratory and to spend time with others: this is important! Do you like to go to your parish?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
Do you like - but tell me the truth - do you like to go to Mass?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis (laughing):
I'm not sure ... Do you like to go to your local oratory?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
Ah, yes, this you like. And these three things you will do - truly, this is a word of advice that I offer to you - these three things you should do to grow in friendship with Jesus: speak with your grandparents, play with your friends and go to your parish and your parish oratory. Because, with these three things, you will pray more. (applause) And prayer is the thread that unites these three things. Thank you. (applause)
Question asked by two parents:
Good evening. We are Monica and Alberto, and we are parents of three children, the last one will be Confirmed next October. The question that we want to ask you is this: how can we pass on the beauty of the faith to our children? Sometimes, it seems so complicated to speak about these things without becoming boring or banal or, worse yet, authoritarian. What words should we use?
Pope Francis:
Thank you. I had these questions ahead of time ... Yes, because they sent them to me, and in order to be clear about my response, I took a few moments, I wrote something, and now I want to respond to Monica and Alberto.
a. I believe that this is one of the key questions that touches on our lives as parents: the transmission of the faith, and it also touches on our lives as pastors, and as educators. The transmission of the faith. And I would like to ask you this question. I invite you to recall who were the persons who left a mark on your faith and what was it about them that remained most impressed upon you. The things that the children just asked me, I ask them of you. Who are the people, what are the situations, the things that helped you to grow in faith? I invite you parents to become, with the help of your imagination, for just a few moments, children, and remember the people who helped you to grow. Who helped me to grow? My father, my mother, my grandparents, my catechists, an aunt, the pastor, a neighbour, who knows ... We carry them all in our memory, but especially we carry in our hearts someone who has helped us to believe. Now, I'll give you a challenge. Let's be silent for a moment ... and everyone think: who helped me to believe? And I respond for myself, and in order to tell the truth I have to return to the memory of Lombardy ... (great applause). For me, one of the people who helped me a lot, who helped me to grow in my faith, was a priest from Lodi, from the Diocese of Lodi; a good priest who baptized me and then all through my life, I would go to him; sometimes more often, at other times less so ...; and he accompanied me until I entered the Jesuit novitiate. I am grateful to you Lombards for this gift, thank you! (applause). And i will never forget that priest, never, never. He was an apostle of the confessional, an apostle of the confessional. Merciful, good, a hard worker. This is how he helped me to grow.
Everyone of us has thought of a person? I told you who helped me.
You may be wondering why I used this little exercise. Our children are always watching us; even when we are not paying attention, they are observing us all the time and learning at the same time. (applause) The children are watching us: this is the title of a film by Vittorio De Sica from 1943. Look for it. Look for it. The children are watching us. And, by the way, I'd like to say that these Italian post-war films and a bit afterwards, were - generally - a true source of catechesis about humanity. Close the parentheses. The children are watching, and you cannot imagine the anguish that a child feels when his parents are fighting. They suffer! (applause) And when parents separate, they are the ones who pay the price. (applause) When we bring a child into the world, we should be conscious of this: we take on the responsibility to help this child to grow in faith. It would be very useful for you to read the Exhortation Amoris laetitia, especially the first chapters, on love, matrimony, the fourth chapter which is a must, a key part. But don't forget: when you fight, your children suffer and their faith does not grow (applause). Children know our joys, our sorrows and our preoccupations. They manage to capture everything, they notice everything, and since they are very very intuitive, they draw their own conclusions and intuit their own lessons. They know when we are setting traps for them and when we aren't. They know. They are very clever. Therefore, one of the first things that I would say to you is: take care of them, take care of their hearts, their joys and their hopes.
Your children's little eyes eventually memorize and read with the heart how faith is one of the best inheritances that they could ever receive from their parents and from your ancestors. If they realize it. And if you give them faith and live it well, faith will be passed on.
Show them how faith helps us to go on, to face the many challenges that we face, not with pessimism but with trust, this is the best witness that you can give to them. There is a saying: Words are like wind, but what they sow in our memories, in our hearts, remains forever.
b. Another thing. In various places, many families have a very beautiful tradition of going to Mass together and afterwards they go to the park, they take their children to play together. In this way, faith becomes a part of the family and includes other families, with friends, family friends ... This is good and it helps us to live the commandment of keeping feast days holy. Not only going to church to pray or to sleep during the homily - it happens! - not only this, but then going to play together. Now that we have begun this beautiful day, for example, on Sunday after having gone to Mass with the family, it is good to be able to go to the park or to a square, to play, to spend some time together. In my homeland, this practice is called dominguear, spending Sunday together. But our climate makes it difficult to do this at times because many parents, in order to feed their families, have to work even on festival days. And this is terrible. I always ask parents, when they tell me that they lose patience with their children, my first question is always: How many children do you have? - Three, four, they tell me. And I ask them a second question: Do you play with your children? - Play? And they don't know what to say. Parents in our times cannot, or they have lost the habit of playing with their children, of spending time with their children. A father once said to me: Father, when I leave to go to work, they are still in bed, and when I return late at night, they are already in bed. I only see them on festival days. This is terrible! This kind of life kills humanity! Keep in mind: playing with the children, spending time with children is also an act of transmitting faith. It is free, the grace of God.
c. And one last thing: family education in solidarity. This is an act of transmitting faith with education in solidarity, in the works of mercy. The works of mercy make faith grow in our hearts. This is very important. I like to place the accent on celebration, on gratitude, on seeking other families and living faith as a something to be enjoyed; I believe that it is also necessary to add another element. There can be no feast without solidarity. Like there can be no solidarity without a feast, because when we are in solidarity, we are joyous and we share our joy.
I don't want to bore you, but I want to share with you something that I encountered in Buenos Aires. A mother was at lunch with her three children: they were six, four and a half and three years old; and there were two others. her husband was at work. They were at lunch, each of them was eating a cutlet alla milanese, yes, because they told me, and every one of the children had one in his or her plate. There was a knock at the door. The oldest of the children went to open the door and returned saying: Mama, there is a poor man who is asking for something to eat. And the mother, she was wise, asked: What should we do? Should we give him something or not? - Yes, mama, let's give him something! There were other cutlets there. The mother said: Ah, great: let us make two sandwiches: all of you cut your cutlets in half and let us make two sandwiches. - Mama, but what about these! - No, they are for supper. And in this way, the mother taught them to be in solidarity, but also that there is a cost involved! For example, this would normally be enough, but you will laugh to hear the end of the story. One week later, the mother had to go to the grocery store, in the afternoon, at about four o'clock, and she left the three children alone for about an hour - they were good children. She went shopping. When the mother came home, there were not only three children, there were four! In addition to the three children, there was a beggar (laughter) who had asked for money and they had invited him in; together, they were drinking caffelatte ... This is an ending that makes us laugh a bit ... Teaching children about solidarity, about the works of mercy. Thank you.
Question asked by a catechist:
Good evening, I am Valeria, a mother and a catechist from one of the parishes in Milan, from Rogoredo. You have taught us that we need a village in order to teach a child: our Archbishop also has inspired us over the years to work together, so that there will be a level of collaboration between various educating figures. So we want to ask you for some advice, so that we can open ourselves to a dialogue and to a comparison with all the educators who have a role to play with teaching our children ...
Pope Francis:
a. I suggest an education based on think-feel-do, an education for the intellect, the heart and the hands, all three languages. Teach in harmony with these three languages, so that your young people - boys and girls - can think about what they are feeling and doing, feel what they are thinking and doing, and do what they are thinking and feeling. Don't separate these three things, but keep all three together. Don't teach only the intellect: this will give them intellectual ideas, which are important, but without the heart and he hands ideas are useless. There should be harmony in education. But we can also say: teach with content, ideas and attitudes about life and with values. We can also say it this way. But never teach only, for example, with notions and ideas. No. The heart should also be able to grow through education; and also the ability to do things, people's attitudes, their behaviour in life.
b. In reference to the preceding point, I remember that once in a school there was a graduate who was a phenomenal soccer player but he was a disaster in class. One rule that we had given him was that if he did not behave in class he would have to stop playing soccer, which he loved so much! Since he continued his bad behaviour, he spent two months without being able to play, and this made matters worse. Be careful when you punish: this boy got worse. It's true, I knew him, this boy. One day, his coach spoke to the principal, and explained: Things are not going well! Let me try, the principal said, and he asked if the child could begin playing again. Let's try, said the woman. The coach put him in as captain of the squad. That child, that young man felt valued, he felt as though he could do better, and he began not only to behave better, but his performance also got better. It seems to me that this is very important in education. Very important. Among our students, there are some who are inspired by sports and not so much by science, but others succeed better at art rather than at mathematics while others excel at philosophy rather than at sports. A good teacher, an educator or a coach knows how to inspire good qualities in his students while not neglecting the others. In such cases, he provides the pedagogical phenomenon known as transference: doing one thing well and pleasantly, the benefit transfers to the others. Look for the places where students have more responsibility, where they are happier, and they will do well. It is always good to motivate them, but children also need to have fun and to sleep. Teaching alone, without making space for gratitude is not good.
And I finish with one more thing. There is a terrible phenomenon in recent times, that is very concerning for me, in education: bullying. Please, be careful (thunderous applause) Now, I ask you, newly Confirmed young people. In silence, listen to me. In silence. In your school, in your neighbourhood, is there someone about whom you make fun, that you play tricks on because they have a defect, because they are fat, because they are thin ... this one, or that one? Think about them. And do you like to make them feel ashamed and even hit them or beat them because of those things? Think about it. This behaviour is called bullying. Please ... (increasing applause) No, no! I am not finished. Please, for the sake of the Sacrament of Holy Confirmation, make a promise to the Lord to never do this and to never allow anyone else to do this in your college, in your school, in your neighbourhood. Do you understand?
Children:
Yes! (thunderous applause)
Pope Francis:
Promise me: never, never make fun of others, play tricks on school friends, children in your neighbourhood ... Do you promise me this, today?
Children:
Yes.
Pope Francis:
The Pope is not happy with your response ... Do you promise me this?
Children:
(shouting) Yes!
Pope Francis:
Good. This yes, you have said to the Pope. Now, in silence, think about how terrible this behaviour is, and think about whether you are able to make such a promise to Jesus. Can you promise Jesus that you will never be a bully?
Children:
Yes!
Pope Francis:
You promise Jesus ...
Children:
(shouting) Yes!
Pope Francis:
Thank you. And may the Lord bless you!
Congratulations to all of you (the children who had performed the choreography on the field): you are very good!
Let us pray together: Our Father ...
(Blessing)
Please, I ask you to pray for me. And before we leave, one more question: with whom should we speak more often at home?
Children:
With our grandparents!
Pope Francis:
Good! And you, parents, what should you do more often with your children?
Parents:
Play!
Pope Francis:
Play. And you teachers, how can you make education better, with what kind of language? With the language of the head, the heart and the hands!
Thank you and good bye!
At the conclusion of the meeting, at 7:00pm, the Holy Father travelled to Milan's Linate airport where, at 7:40pm, he bid farewell to the persons who had welcomed him this morning and left for the return trip to Rome. The aircraft carrying Pope Francis landed at Rome's Ciampino airport at 8:45pm. Then, at 9:15pm, the Pope returned to the Vatican.
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