The man whom many Catholics regard as God’s emissary on Earth, the successor to St. Peter, and the ultimate authority on Catholicism has weighed in on this weekend’s student-led protests against gun violence this weekend, with a resounding endorsement:
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis, starting Holy Week services leading to Easter, urged young people on Sunday to keep shouting and not allow the older generations to silence their voices or anesthetize their idealism.
Without directly mentioning the protests, His Holiness’ position is unmistakable, especially in its excoriation of those who would denigrate or ridicule these young people, and those who would attempt to silence their voices:
“There are many ways to silence young people and make them invisible. Many ways to anesthetize them, to make them keep quiet, ask nothing, question nothing. There are many ways to sedate them, to keep them from getting involved, to make their dreams flat and dreary, petty and plaintive,” he said.
On the contrary, the Pope encourages young people to shout their beliefs in the face of the evil and corruption that opposes them:
“Dear young people, you have it in you to shout,” he told young people, urging them to be like the people who welcomed Jesus with palms rather than those who shouted for his crucifixion only days later.
“It is up to you not to keep quiet. Even if others keep quiet, if we older people and leaders, some corrupt, keep quiet, if the whole world keeps quiet and loses its joy, I ask you: Will you cry out?”
It’s Palm Sunday, a day when Catholics everywhere celebrate the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
Will the Churches deliver the Pope’s message this morning?