MESSAGE OF
HIS HOLINESS
POPE BENEDICT XVI
FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE
WORLD DAY OF PEACE
POPE BENEDICT XVI
FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE
WORLD DAY OF PEACE
1 JANUARY
2012
EDUCATING YOUNG PEOPLE IN JUSTICE AND PEACE
1. The beginning of a new year, God’s gift to humanity, prompts me
to extend to all, with great confidence and affection, my heartfelt good wishes
that this time now before us may be marked concretely by justice and peace.
With what attitude should we look to the New Year? We find a very
beautiful image in Psalm 130. The Psalmist says that people of faith wait for
the Lord “more than those who watch for the morning” (v. 6); they wait for him
with firm hope because they know that he will bring light, mercy, salvation.
This waiting was born of the experience of the Chosen People, who realized that
God taught them to look at the world in its truth and not to be overwhelmed by
tribulation. I invite you to look to 2012 with this attitude of confident trust.
It is true that the year now ending has been marked by a rising sense of
frustration at the crisis looming over society, the world of labour and the
economy, a crisis whose roots are primarily cultural and anthropological. It
seems as if a shadow has fallen over our time, preventing us from clearly seeing
the light of day.
In this shadow, however, human hearts continue to wait for the
dawn of which the Psalmist speaks. Because this expectation is particularly
powerful and evident in young people, my thoughts turn to them and to the
contribution which they can and must make to society. I would like therefore to
devote this message for the XLV World Day of Peace to the theme of education:
“Educating Young People in Justice and Peace”, in the conviction that the
young, with their enthusiasm and idealism, can offer new hope to the world.
My Message is also addressed to parents, families and all those
involved in the area of education and formation, as well as to leaders in the
various spheres of religious, social, political, economic and cultural life and
in the media. Attentiveness to young people and their concerns, the ability to
listen to them and appreciate them, is not merely something expedient; it
represents a primary duty for society as a whole, for the sake of building a
future of justice and peace.
It is a matter of communicating to young people an appreciation
for the positive value of life and of awakening in them a desire to spend their
lives in the service of the Good. This is a task which engages each of us
personally.
The concerns expressed in recent times by many young people around
the world demonstrate that they desire to look to the future with solid hope. At
the present time, they are experiencing apprehension about many things: they
want to receive an education which prepares them more fully to deal with the
real world, they see how difficult it is to form a family and to find stable
employment; they wonder if they can really contribute to political, cultural and
economic life in order to build a society with a more human and fraternal
face.
It is important that this unease and its underlying idealism
receive due attention at every level of society. The Church looks to young
people with hope and confidence; she encourages them to seek truth, to defend
the common good, to be open to the world around them and willing to see “new
things” (Is 42:9; 48:6).
Educators
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