Speaking at the Cathedra of Hospitality in the town of Sacrofano near Rome, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, highlighted the risks faced by youth, including war, extremism, migration challenges, and low birth rates, and stressed the need to offer them real prospects.
By Salvatore Cernuzio
Cardinal Pietro Parolin spoke Tuesday afternoon at the “Cathedra of Hospitality,” a cultural and educational event now in its fourth edition. This year, held at the Fraterna Domus in Sacrofano, the focus was Youth and the Church: Hospitality that fosters belonging. Organized by movements and Third Sector organizations in collaboration with Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University, the event provides spaces for dialogue and reflection on current issues.
In his remarks, Cardinal Parolin stressed that young people are victims of conflicts, forced to fight in Ukraine or in African regions. They are easy prey for extremism and other “temptations” because they lack opportunities. Young people refrain from having children out of fear, complain about their inability to cope with heavy responsibilities, or withdraw from reality, seeking refuge in the virtual world. Young migrants who are not integrated, those who feel unheard, or who struggle to find their identity, including their Christian identity, also face challenges, Cardinal Parolin said.
“These are the young people,” he insisted, “to whom we must offer ‘prospects’; we must ‘invest’ in them and ‘make them protagonists’ in order to build ‘a future of peace.’”
Migration and low birth rates
Returning from a trip to Burkina Faso, where he presided over the episcopal ordination of the new nuncio to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon, Monsignor Kisito Ouédraogo, his long-time personal secretary, Cardinal Parolin opened the discussions.
“We risked being stuck due to tensions,” he said on the sidelines.
More than a speech, his talk was a back-and-forth with Professor Vincenzo Buonomo, examining the scenarios in which young people live: observing their contributions, noting their absence, highlighting difficulties in participation and action, and the phenomena that affect, or strike, them.
First among these is migration and the integration of migrants, described by Cardinal Parolin as “unresolved challenges.” Despite various efforts in different countries, “further reflection and contributions are needed to find a satisfactory solution.”
Next is the phenomenon of low birth rates. “Exactly the opposite of what should be an opening to the future,” the Cardinal said. He emphasized the “difficulty for young people to give life” and noted, “War fuels fear for the future and thus the unwillingness to bring children into the world.”
“This general concern risks compromising all future generations,” Cardinal Parolin warned. “Fear of a future that may bring suffering and hardship affects the unwillingness to have children. When a child is perceived as a burden, as a limit to one’s freedom, there will be no new births.”
He asked, “What is the supreme value? Self-realization? Or the gift of oneself? If a child is seen as a limitation on social success, the path to new life is closed.”
The danger of extremism
“This phenomenon is typical of the Western world,” Cardinal Parolin observed, while noting that Africa “is growing at an exponential rate.” He stressed, “Young people must be given prospects for the future because when they lack education, work, and opportunities, they fall victim to extremists, becoming easy prey for such temptations.”
He added, “It is young people who fight, who go to the front,” citing both “the many forgotten wars in Africa” and the war in Ukraine.
Greater space in institutions
Cardinal Parolin also addressed the phenomenon “where only older people participate in negotiations and talks,” stressing that “young people should participate more, not only because the future belongs to them, but also because solutions can come from them.”
For this reason, he called for “greater openness in institutions, especially international ones, to the contribution young people can offer.” He emphasized, “International institutions must be renewed because the scenario is no longer that of the Cold War or the postwar period, and I think serious reflection must consider the contribution of young people. We need young people, well-educated, to be present in institutions.”
Feeling inadequate
Many young people “experience great frustration as they are called upon to perform tasks for which they feel inadequate. They don’t feel up to it,” Cardinal Parolin said.
The solution, he suggested, is straightforward: “Someone should love them freely, someone who loves them beyond results. And we have God, who loves us despite the results.”
Young men and women should be presented with “a God who does not demand perfection but loves and values us beyond what we achieve,” the Cardinal added.
Transmitting values
It is essential to encourage young people to “develop a Christian identity” and to revive the “transmission of values” that once involved family, school, and parish. Today, however, “there is no longer convergence of action among these entities,” Cardinal Parolin noted.
He added that often the “enemies” are “inside the home,” because “all it takes is for young people to pick up a phone to experience a reality we do not know.” Thus, in addition to faith and values, “authoritative figures” are needed to “inspire young people’s lives.”
The Church’s commitment
The Church must take “a twofold approach”: first, “listening,” finding ways and opportunities to listen to young people. Second, “accompanying them on their path, through their difficulties,” Cardinal Parolin said.
“The Church can become an environment in which young people from around the world can integrate more easily,” he added. Catholic schools, he noted, can serve as instruments of integration, as can World Youth Days.
The Cardinal concluded, “As Catholics, we must open ourselves to listening to them; only in this way can we open ourselves to them and their peers.”
