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Pope Francis’ Address to the International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS) Pax Romana
Consistory Hall – Friday, 20 September 2024
Pax Romana is an international movement of Catholic students dedicated to promoting peace and justice worldwide and encouraging students to seek their faith through its mission.
Dear friends,
I greet all of you, the members of the International Movement of Catholic Students Pax Romana, together with your friends and families, and I thank you for your presence today.
I deeply appreciate your commitment to promoting social justice and integral human development inspired by your Catholic faith and its vision of a world increasingly conformed to God’s loving plan for our human family.
Following the reflections of the Church’s Synod on Young People in 2018, I urged young people in particular to be “protagonists of the revolution of charity and service” (Christus Vivit, 174).
Their presence and activity – whether in academia, in the workplace or on the streets of the city – serve this purpose by helping to build a more compassionate, harmonious and fraternal world. I am thinking, for example, of the work of education and formation of leaders carried out in your various centers in France, Thailand and Kenya, based on the witness of the Gospel and the commitment to the social doctrine of the Church. By fostering a sense of global citizenship and encouraging action at the local level, your movement not only enables young people to deepen their understanding of the pressing social issues of our time, but also empowers them to promote effective change in their communities, thus serving as an authentic leaven of the Gospel.
In these days, as we move forward with the current Synod on Synodality, I would like to encourage you, individually and collectively, to take an active part in the synodal journey of the whole Church, “walking together”, listening, participating and engaging in open and discerning dialogue, attentive to the still voice of the Holy Spirit.
I also encourage you to welcome the forthcoming celebration of the Holy Year 2025 as a privileged opportunity for personal renewal and spiritual enrichment in union with the whole Church.
The eloquent symbol of the Holy Door through which the faithful pass here in Rome reminds us that we are all pilgrims on a journey, called together to deeper union with the Lord Jesus and to an openness to the power of his grace to transform our lives and the world in which we live.
Dear young friends, it is my hope that your presence in Rome, and our meeting today, will be a source of renewed inspiration for your efforts to “work for the growth of peace, harmony, justice, human rights and mercy, and thus for the extension of the Kingdom of God in this world” (Christus Vivit, 168).
Commending all of you to the prayers of Mary, Queen of Peace, and Blessed Giorgio Frassati, whom I hope to enroll among the saints in the coming Holy Year, I invoke upon you all the Lord’s blessings of wisdom, joy and lasting peace.
