Hundreds of thousands of people — 3 million for the final Mass according to the official website — gathered in Krakow, Poland last week for one of the biggest events held by the Catholic church. The World Youth Day (WYD) is unique in that it brings together young people from all around the world who decide to take a stand for their faith, for peace and for a more united world. Even as the world seems to give in to terror, in Krakow 3 million young men and women decided to share their songs, experiences and faith in a mood full of love and fellowship. But let us forget for a moment the Catholic nature of this event and let us see instead thousands of people who, even as they took pride in waving the flag of their own country, were willing to share a meal with people from 10 or 20 other countries. People who were willing to let go of their own preconceptions and barriers as they united in songs and prayers. People who decided that love was more powerful than fear.
One of the greatest paradoxes of our times is that the technology that is supposed to bring us together too often separates us. It numbs us. It perpetuates a sense of detachment. That is why the WYD was such a powerful experience. Pope Francis put it really eloquently in the prayer vigil last Saturday: "For us, here, today, coming from different parts of the world, the suffering and the wars that many young people experience are no longer anonymous, something we read about in the papers. They have a name, they have a face, they have a story, they are close at hand.” For the only way to make a change in the world is to put down our phones and look into the eyes of those standing in front of us. The only way “to leave a mark” like Pope Francis urged us to do, is to stand up from our couch of contentment, go out there and do something. The only way to make the WYD count for something greater is to see in it the desire of the young people all around the world for peace and to nurture that desire.
It is sad then to see news about this event clouded by the insistent coverage of news outlets of terrorism, hatred and intolerance. Instead of praising the resilience of young people all around the world who decided that hatred was not going to stop them from coming together to praise God and share their faith, the news decided to focus on the attacks carried out by groups that want nothing but terror filling up every aspect of our lives. That’s why they are winning. Because we focus on evil rather than the love and tolerance that young people want in our world today. The WYD is a proof today of the power we have to make a change in the world. It is a proof that if we choose love and friendship great things can happen. It is a proof that we do not need to give in to the crushing voices of society but rather we should get out there and praise the diversity of our world.
As I come back home I would like to encourage everyone, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, to take on the challenge of Pope Francis: "To take the path of the “craziness” of our God, who teaches us to encounter him in the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, the friend in trouble, the prisoner, the refugee and the migrant, and our neighbors who feel abandoned. To take the path of our God, who encourages us to be politicians, thinkers, social activists. The God who encourages us to devise an economy marked by greater solidarity than our own.”
Even if you don’t believe in God, I encourage you to be a politician, a thinker, a social activist. Our world needs it. Our world needs a better system, a better economy, a better society built on solidarity. We can no longer divide the world in the “First World” and the “Third World.” We can no longer pretend that something happening in Syria or Poland doesn’t affect us. We can no longer harvest intolerance based on preconceptions of race, economic status or faith. The world we have in this 21st century is a world in which we depend of each other. It is a world in which only by working in equality across faiths, countries, cultures and languages we can find peace and progress.
