At 4:30pm on Thursday afternoon, in the Synod Hall at the Vatican, Pope Francis met with those participating in the Third Congress of Scholas occurrentes, which took place at the Vatican from September 1st to 4th. The theme for this year's gathering was The Worldwide Network of Schools of Encounter. This group was created at the request of Pope Francis and gathers educators from various cultures and religions.
During the audience, the Holy Father spoke via Videoconference with students belonging to Scholas occurrentes who were in Australia, Israel, Turkey, South Africa and El Salvador. Following the video conference, His Holiness also addressed those who were present with him in the Synod Hall.
Pope Francis
Good afternoon. They tell me that you're finishing up, that you're closing. I hope that you have sown good seed so that the fruit will be good. And thank you for all the work that you've done. Thank you.
First question: Cameron, in Queensland, Australia
Hello and g'day from Australia. Our message to you is that Saint Joseph’s College is a Catholic School in the … tradition. We follow in the footsteps of Scholas and in several campaigns advocating peace internationally and within our own community: an example of such is that we held an interreligious soccer month last month for peace between our school and refugees of the local Vietnamese community. So because of this we’d like to thank you personally for the Scholas programme. It allows us to have direct communication with yourself. As youths of diverse religions. And because of this we’re all incredibly humbled to have this opportunity to speak with you. It is certainly a leap in the right direction in terms of developing a global network of peace and it’s quite amazing how we can use technology to have dialogue to learn from each other. So, what we’d really like to know from you is specifically how the Scholas programme will help us bridge gaps between the youths of various countries today?
Pope Francis
Thank you. And thank you as well for what you're telling me that you do and what your group does.
I will try to respond to your question. How can Scholas advance communication and build bridges? Before responding to you, I take up this phrase that you used: build bridges (bridge gaps). In life, you can do one of two things: either build bridges or build walls. Walls separate, divide. Bridges bring together.
Responding to your question: What can you do? Keep communicating, share your experiences, the experiences that you have. You have a lot in your hearts. You can do many things. All of this that you shared when you introduced yourself, share it so that others are inspired. And listen to what others tell you. And with this communication, no one is the superior, but everything works. This is the spontaneity of life, it is to say a yes to life. To communicate is to give oneself, to communicate is generosity, to communicate is respect, to communicate is to avoid every type of discrimination. Keep going forward, kids. And I like what you told me you are doing. May God bless you.
Second question: Eyal, in Tel Aviv, Israel
Hello Father. Good afternoon, Your Holiness. I would like to tell you about our school, La Salle, in the south of Tel Aviv. Gathered there are the three religions: Christians, Jews, and Muslims. And we are all together and we speak almost the same language: English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew. We play a lot of sports, we do science, art; we communicate a lot. We have a lot of friends. And I want to thank you for the Scholas project.
Pope Francis
Thank you. And I see that you manage things well and know how to communicate in various languages and from the identity of your own religion. And this is beautiful. What do you want to ask me?
Eval
When do you want to come here, to the Holy Land, to Israel?
Pope Francis
I would like to go back. I was there some months ago and I returned very content, very content. The example that you give ... Moderator interrupts ...
Third question: Sina, in Istanbul, Turkey
Hi Pope… Hello Pope… I’m joining from Istanbul. First of all, I want to say thank you for everything – that you haven’t only brought some people or schools and students together, but also our beliefs and hearts. We hope you will increase the number of projects, which support peace and interfaith dialogue. We as students don’t want a world full of worse crimes and poverty. People from all nationalities that contain different religions and ethnic groups must learn how to live in peace. We must forget about racism and discrimination. The last thing is that I want to learn your thoughts about the future. Will it be better or worse than the present?
Pope Francis
Thank you for the question and thank you for the reflection that you made: that you young people don't want war. You want peace. And this you have to shout from your hearts, from within: We want peace!! From within.
Your question: will the future be better or worse? I don't have the crystal ball that a witch has to see into the future. But I want to tell you one thing. Do you know where the future is? It is in your heart. It is in your mind and it is in your hands. If you feel well [rightly], if you think well [rightly] and if you, with your hands, carry forward this good thinking and good feeling, the future will be better. Young people have the future.
But be careful: Young people possess the future along with two qualities: Youth with wings and with roots. Youth who have wings to fly, to dream, to create; and who have roots to receive from their elders the wisdom that elders give us. Because of this, the future is in your hands if you have wings and roots. Be inspired to have wings to dream good things, to dream of a better world, to protest against war. And on the other hand, respect the wisdom that you received from your elders, from your parents, your grandparents, the elders of your people. The future is in your hands. Take advantage so that it will be better.
Fourth question: Christian, in Eastern Cape, South Africa
Thank you, Your Holiness, for taking the time to talk with us. My name is Christian Sakapa and I'm going to ask you some questions. Don't get nervous. I agree with the concept of the school platform and the values that it represents. How was this idea of the school platform developed?
Pope Francis
Scholas developed ... I was going to say by coincidence. But no, it wasn't coincidence. It came from an idea of this gentleman who is here, José María del Corral, and he was accompanied by Enrique Palmeiro. That's how Scholas came about, forming a school of neighbors, in the Diocese of Buenos Aires. In addition to the schools, a network of schools of neighbors, to build bridges between the schools of Buenos Aires. And it built many bridges, many bridges, even bridges across oceans. It started as a little thing, as a dream, as something that we weren't sure was going to happen, and today we can speak with each other. Why? Because we were convinced that youth need to communicate, need to show their values and share their values.
Youth, today, need three key pillars: education, sport and culture. That's why Scholas brings together all that. We had a soccer match. The schools do that and they also do cultural activities. Education, sport and culture. Forward, so that the nations can prepare outlets of work for these kids who are accompanied by education, sport and culture. And sport is important because it teaches one to play as a team. Sports saves a person from egotism, it helps to not be egotistical. That's why it's important to work as a team and to study as a team and to walk the path of life as a team.
As you can see, the question didn't scare me. I thank you for it very much. And keep going in this path of communication, of building bridges, seeking peace, for education, sport and culture. Thank you.
Fifth question: Ernesto, from La Campanera, El Salvador
Well, I want to say that ... to thank you from here, from El Salvador, and here from all of Latin America, and tell you that ... and also suggest to you that you make a call to all the universities ... or to the private businesses.
Pope Francis
I thank you for your greeting from your neighborhood, from your town with your friends. I know of all the work that you are doing in El Salvador. José María told me about it. I know that you are advancing quite a lot, and that you are working hard in education, but remember what I told your companion from South Africa: education, sport and culture. And careful with the gangs because, just as bridges exist that unite you, there are also communications to destroy. Be very alert when there are groups that seek destruction, that seek war, that don't know how to work as a team. Defend yourselves, as a team, as a group, and work hard in this. I know that you are working very well, and very well supported. And the Education Ministry, I know that it supports you. Keep going along this path of working as a team and defend yourselves against those who want to split you and rob you of this strength as a group. May God bless you.
Host asks
What message does Pope Francis want to give to these five youths and the thousands of young people that are following this conversation. What message do you want to give to all of them?
Pope Francis
I want to say one thing that isn't mine. Jesus said it many times: Be not afraid. In my country we have an expression that I'm not sure how they would translate it in English: (literally) Don't get wrinkled up. Be not afraid. Keep moving forward. Build bridges of peace. Play as a team and make the future better because remember that the future is in your hands. Dream of the future, about flying, but don't forget the inheritance of culture, wisdom and religion that your elders left you. Keep going. And with courage. Make the future.
Watch the video conference:
I'm like the one who is told, Say something. And then he responds, OK, I'm going to improvise (a speech). And then he delivers what he already had prepared.
These are the points that more or less I wanted to tell you, adding to them what I have seen here.
First of all, thank you very much. Your presence here is something unique. I told the president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, that things are happening. This is something unique because of the developments, the work, the intensity, because of the people that go and come, the creativity of the protocol ... in the framework of these three Days of the Worldwide Network of Schools for Encounter.
So, the idea is encounter. This culture of encounter, which is the challenge. Today, no one doubts anymore that the world is at war. And no one doubts, of course, that the world is in dis-encounter. And we must propose somehow a culture of encounter. A culture of integration, of encounter, of bridges. Isn't that right? And this job, you are the ones doing it.
I thank the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, who has facilitated all of this. Many people have been involved. I know that when these two get together they are a danger. They do a lot.
But remember that African phrase: To educate a child you need a village. To educate a person, you need all of this.
We cannot leave children to themselves, please. A phrase has been already incorporated into our language: street children, as if a child could be alone, abandoned by all that is the cultural environment, all that is the family environment. Yes, the family is there, the school is there, the culture is there, but the child is alone. Why? Because the educational alliance is broken and the educational alliance must be repaired.
One time, in fourth grade, I was disrespectful to my teacher and the teacher had my mother called. My mom came, I stayed in the classroom, and the teacher went out. And afterward they called me, and my mom -- very calm -- I feared the worst, no? -- said to me, Did you do this and this and this? Did you say this to the teacher? Yes. Ask her forgiveness. And she made me ask for forgiveness as she listened. And I was happy. I got off easy. The second act was when I got home.
Today, at least in many schools of my homeland, a teacher writes an observation in the child's notebook, and the next day, has the father or the mother denouncing the teacher. The educational alliance is broken. It's not everyone united for the child. And that's how we can speak of society as well. So, to rebuild this educational alliance, to rebuild this village to educate the child. We cannot leave them alone, we cannot leave then on the street, unprotected, at the mercy of a world in which the cult of money prevails, the cult of violence and disposable. I repeat this a lot, but it is evident that a throwaway culture has been installed. What isn't useful is thrown away. Children are thrown away because they are not educated or they are not wanted. The birthrates of certain developed nations are alarming. The elderly are thrown away -- and remember what I said of youth and elderly in the future -- because this system of hidden euthanasia has been established. That is, social services will cover you up to this point, and after that, you die. Children and the elderly are thrown away. And now the new throwaway culture is an entire generation of youth without work in developed countries. They speak of 75 million youth in developed countries, 25 years old and younger, without work. A generation of youth is thrown away. This obliges us to come out of ourselves and not to leave the children alone, at least this. And that is our work. They and the elderly are definitely the people who are most vulnerable in this culture in which the throwaway predominates. But also the youth. It falls on their shoulders too, in order to maintain a system of finances balanced where the centre is no longer the human person, but money.
In this sense, it is very important to strengthen bonds: social bonds, family bonds, personal bonds. Everyone, but especially the children and the young need an adequate environment, a truly human habitat, in which there are conditions for their harmonious personal development and for their integration in the bigger habitat of society. How important it is, then, the effort to create an extensive and strong network of truly human ties, a network that sustains the children, that opens them with confidence and serenity to reality, that is an authentic place of encounter, in which the true, the good and the beautiful arise in their own harmony. If a child doesn't have this, the only path that is left for him is that of delinquency and addiction. I urge you to keep working to create this human village, ever more human, that provides children with a present of peace and a future of hope.
In you I see, in these moments, the face of so many children and youth who I carry in my heart, because I know that they are throwaway material, and for whom it is worth it to work without rest. Thank you for what you are doing for this initiative, where as well the ties between you have to endure so as to not give space to internal conflict: No. I'm in charge of this. Here, I'm the one involved. This is for my group. No. No. No. That is, I'm going to create ties of unity if I am capable of living them in an initiative where each one renounces the urge to command and increases the urge to serve.
I ask you to pray for me, because I need it. And may God bless you.
During the audience, the Holy Father spoke via Videoconference with students belonging to Scholas occurrentes who were in Australia, Israel, Turkey, South Africa and El Salvador. Following the video conference, His Holiness also addressed those who were present with him in the Synod Hall.
Video conference hosted by His Holiness, Pope Francis
with students from Scholas occurrentes
Good afternoon. They tell me that you're finishing up, that you're closing. I hope that you have sown good seed so that the fruit will be good. And thank you for all the work that you've done. Thank you.
First question: Cameron, in Queensland, Australia
Hello and g'day from Australia. Our message to you is that Saint Joseph’s College is a Catholic School in the … tradition. We follow in the footsteps of Scholas and in several campaigns advocating peace internationally and within our own community: an example of such is that we held an interreligious soccer month last month for peace between our school and refugees of the local Vietnamese community. So because of this we’d like to thank you personally for the Scholas programme. It allows us to have direct communication with yourself. As youths of diverse religions. And because of this we’re all incredibly humbled to have this opportunity to speak with you. It is certainly a leap in the right direction in terms of developing a global network of peace and it’s quite amazing how we can use technology to have dialogue to learn from each other. So, what we’d really like to know from you is specifically how the Scholas programme will help us bridge gaps between the youths of various countries today?
Pope Francis
Thank you. And thank you as well for what you're telling me that you do and what your group does.
I will try to respond to your question. How can Scholas advance communication and build bridges? Before responding to you, I take up this phrase that you used: build bridges (bridge gaps). In life, you can do one of two things: either build bridges or build walls. Walls separate, divide. Bridges bring together.
Responding to your question: What can you do? Keep communicating, share your experiences, the experiences that you have. You have a lot in your hearts. You can do many things. All of this that you shared when you introduced yourself, share it so that others are inspired. And listen to what others tell you. And with this communication, no one is the superior, but everything works. This is the spontaneity of life, it is to say a yes to life. To communicate is to give oneself, to communicate is generosity, to communicate is respect, to communicate is to avoid every type of discrimination. Keep going forward, kids. And I like what you told me you are doing. May God bless you.
Second question: Eyal, in Tel Aviv, Israel
Hello Father. Good afternoon, Your Holiness. I would like to tell you about our school, La Salle, in the south of Tel Aviv. Gathered there are the three religions: Christians, Jews, and Muslims. And we are all together and we speak almost the same language: English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew. We play a lot of sports, we do science, art; we communicate a lot. We have a lot of friends. And I want to thank you for the Scholas project.
Pope Francis
Thank you. And I see that you manage things well and know how to communicate in various languages and from the identity of your own religion. And this is beautiful. What do you want to ask me?
Eval
When do you want to come here, to the Holy Land, to Israel?
Pope Francis
I would like to go back. I was there some months ago and I returned very content, very content. The example that you give ... Moderator interrupts ...
Third question: Sina, in Istanbul, Turkey
Hi Pope… Hello Pope… I’m joining from Istanbul. First of all, I want to say thank you for everything – that you haven’t only brought some people or schools and students together, but also our beliefs and hearts. We hope you will increase the number of projects, which support peace and interfaith dialogue. We as students don’t want a world full of worse crimes and poverty. People from all nationalities that contain different religions and ethnic groups must learn how to live in peace. We must forget about racism and discrimination. The last thing is that I want to learn your thoughts about the future. Will it be better or worse than the present?
Pope Francis
Thank you for the question and thank you for the reflection that you made: that you young people don't want war. You want peace. And this you have to shout from your hearts, from within: We want peace!! From within.
Your question: will the future be better or worse? I don't have the crystal ball that a witch has to see into the future. But I want to tell you one thing. Do you know where the future is? It is in your heart. It is in your mind and it is in your hands. If you feel well [rightly], if you think well [rightly] and if you, with your hands, carry forward this good thinking and good feeling, the future will be better. Young people have the future.
But be careful: Young people possess the future along with two qualities: Youth with wings and with roots. Youth who have wings to fly, to dream, to create; and who have roots to receive from their elders the wisdom that elders give us. Because of this, the future is in your hands if you have wings and roots. Be inspired to have wings to dream good things, to dream of a better world, to protest against war. And on the other hand, respect the wisdom that you received from your elders, from your parents, your grandparents, the elders of your people. The future is in your hands. Take advantage so that it will be better.
Fourth question: Christian, in Eastern Cape, South Africa
Thank you, Your Holiness, for taking the time to talk with us. My name is Christian Sakapa and I'm going to ask you some questions. Don't get nervous. I agree with the concept of the school platform and the values that it represents. How was this idea of the school platform developed?
Pope Francis
Scholas developed ... I was going to say by coincidence. But no, it wasn't coincidence. It came from an idea of this gentleman who is here, José María del Corral, and he was accompanied by Enrique Palmeiro. That's how Scholas came about, forming a school of neighbors, in the Diocese of Buenos Aires. In addition to the schools, a network of schools of neighbors, to build bridges between the schools of Buenos Aires. And it built many bridges, many bridges, even bridges across oceans. It started as a little thing, as a dream, as something that we weren't sure was going to happen, and today we can speak with each other. Why? Because we were convinced that youth need to communicate, need to show their values and share their values.
Youth, today, need three key pillars: education, sport and culture. That's why Scholas brings together all that. We had a soccer match. The schools do that and they also do cultural activities. Education, sport and culture. Forward, so that the nations can prepare outlets of work for these kids who are accompanied by education, sport and culture. And sport is important because it teaches one to play as a team. Sports saves a person from egotism, it helps to not be egotistical. That's why it's important to work as a team and to study as a team and to walk the path of life as a team.
As you can see, the question didn't scare me. I thank you for it very much. And keep going in this path of communication, of building bridges, seeking peace, for education, sport and culture. Thank you.
Fifth question: Ernesto, from La Campanera, El Salvador
Well, I want to say that ... to thank you from here, from El Salvador, and here from all of Latin America, and tell you that ... and also suggest to you that you make a call to all the universities ... or to the private businesses.
Pope Francis
I thank you for your greeting from your neighborhood, from your town with your friends. I know of all the work that you are doing in El Salvador. José María told me about it. I know that you are advancing quite a lot, and that you are working hard in education, but remember what I told your companion from South Africa: education, sport and culture. And careful with the gangs because, just as bridges exist that unite you, there are also communications to destroy. Be very alert when there are groups that seek destruction, that seek war, that don't know how to work as a team. Defend yourselves, as a team, as a group, and work hard in this. I know that you are working very well, and very well supported. And the Education Ministry, I know that it supports you. Keep going along this path of working as a team and defend yourselves against those who want to split you and rob you of this strength as a group. May God bless you.
Host asks
What message does Pope Francis want to give to these five youths and the thousands of young people that are following this conversation. What message do you want to give to all of them?
Pope Francis
I want to say one thing that isn't mine. Jesus said it many times: Be not afraid. In my country we have an expression that I'm not sure how they would translate it in English: (literally) Don't get wrinkled up. Be not afraid. Keep moving forward. Build bridges of peace. Play as a team and make the future better because remember that the future is in your hands. Dream of the future, about flying, but don't forget the inheritance of culture, wisdom and religion that your elders left you. Keep going. And with courage. Make the future.
Watch the video conference:
Address of His Holiness, Pope Francis
to members of Scholas occurentes
I'm like the one who is told, Say something. And then he responds, OK, I'm going to improvise (a speech). And then he delivers what he already had prepared.
These are the points that more or less I wanted to tell you, adding to them what I have seen here.
First of all, thank you very much. Your presence here is something unique. I told the president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, that things are happening. This is something unique because of the developments, the work, the intensity, because of the people that go and come, the creativity of the protocol ... in the framework of these three Days of the Worldwide Network of Schools for Encounter.
So, the idea is encounter. This culture of encounter, which is the challenge. Today, no one doubts anymore that the world is at war. And no one doubts, of course, that the world is in dis-encounter. And we must propose somehow a culture of encounter. A culture of integration, of encounter, of bridges. Isn't that right? And this job, you are the ones doing it.
I thank the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, who has facilitated all of this. Many people have been involved. I know that when these two get together they are a danger. They do a lot.
But remember that African phrase: To educate a child you need a village. To educate a person, you need all of this.
We cannot leave children to themselves, please. A phrase has been already incorporated into our language: street children, as if a child could be alone, abandoned by all that is the cultural environment, all that is the family environment. Yes, the family is there, the school is there, the culture is there, but the child is alone. Why? Because the educational alliance is broken and the educational alliance must be repaired.
One time, in fourth grade, I was disrespectful to my teacher and the teacher had my mother called. My mom came, I stayed in the classroom, and the teacher went out. And afterward they called me, and my mom -- very calm -- I feared the worst, no? -- said to me, Did you do this and this and this? Did you say this to the teacher? Yes. Ask her forgiveness. And she made me ask for forgiveness as she listened. And I was happy. I got off easy. The second act was when I got home.
Today, at least in many schools of my homeland, a teacher writes an observation in the child's notebook, and the next day, has the father or the mother denouncing the teacher. The educational alliance is broken. It's not everyone united for the child. And that's how we can speak of society as well. So, to rebuild this educational alliance, to rebuild this village to educate the child. We cannot leave them alone, we cannot leave then on the street, unprotected, at the mercy of a world in which the cult of money prevails, the cult of violence and disposable. I repeat this a lot, but it is evident that a throwaway culture has been installed. What isn't useful is thrown away. Children are thrown away because they are not educated or they are not wanted. The birthrates of certain developed nations are alarming. The elderly are thrown away -- and remember what I said of youth and elderly in the future -- because this system of hidden euthanasia has been established. That is, social services will cover you up to this point, and after that, you die. Children and the elderly are thrown away. And now the new throwaway culture is an entire generation of youth without work in developed countries. They speak of 75 million youth in developed countries, 25 years old and younger, without work. A generation of youth is thrown away. This obliges us to come out of ourselves and not to leave the children alone, at least this. And that is our work. They and the elderly are definitely the people who are most vulnerable in this culture in which the throwaway predominates. But also the youth. It falls on their shoulders too, in order to maintain a system of finances balanced where the centre is no longer the human person, but money.
In this sense, it is very important to strengthen bonds: social bonds, family bonds, personal bonds. Everyone, but especially the children and the young need an adequate environment, a truly human habitat, in which there are conditions for their harmonious personal development and for their integration in the bigger habitat of society. How important it is, then, the effort to create an extensive and strong network of truly human ties, a network that sustains the children, that opens them with confidence and serenity to reality, that is an authentic place of encounter, in which the true, the good and the beautiful arise in their own harmony. If a child doesn't have this, the only path that is left for him is that of delinquency and addiction. I urge you to keep working to create this human village, ever more human, that provides children with a present of peace and a future of hope.
In you I see, in these moments, the face of so many children and youth who I carry in my heart, because I know that they are throwaway material, and for whom it is worth it to work without rest. Thank you for what you are doing for this initiative, where as well the ties between you have to endure so as to not give space to internal conflict: No. I'm in charge of this. Here, I'm the one involved. This is for my group. No. No. No. That is, I'm going to create ties of unity if I am capable of living them in an initiative where each one renounces the urge to command and increases the urge to serve.
I ask you to pray for me, because I need it. And may God bless you.
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