The evening progressed from cheers and chants, to a dialogue about saints, worries, and the future, to the culminating moment of Eucharistic Adoration and benediction imparted upon some 600,000 young people by Pope Leo XIV.
After the Jubilee of Youth in Rome last summer and in the lead up to World Youth Day in Seoul next year, this evening's meeting with the young people of Spain in Madrid showed the Holy Father at home among the youth, with their popular chant that affirms, "these are the young people of the Pope!"
The cardinal-archbishop began the evening recognizing: These are the youth of Jesus, these are the youth of the Church, and the youth of the Pope.
The hundreds of thousands had been gathered in the park most of the day, where they shared a festival of music and testimony as well as the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary.
A survey published this year by a foundation close to the Church indicated that 45% of young Spaniards aged 15 to 29 identify as Catholic today, compared to 31.6% in 2020.
Once Leo arrived and made a long trek through the crowds in the popemobile, a series of youth asked Pope Leo questions -- ranging from saints other than Augustine who have had an effect on the Pope -- to their own doubts about sharing the faith with others and looking toward the future with uncertainty.
(The saints the Pope mentioned were John Chrysostom, Thomas of Villanova, and St. Toribio of Mogrovejo).
The Pope answered all the questions with a mix of spontaneous off-the-cuff comments and his prepared text, urging the young people to be open to God's call -- whether to the priesthood or consecrated life or to marriage and starting a family.
The time of Eucharistic adoration progressed in a type of lectio divine, with the Gospel of the multiplication of the loaves first being proclaimed by a deacon, and then meditated with phrases from the passage interspersed with brief interludes of symphony music.
The Holy Father encouraged the youth to be the spark of a new civilization -- and in answering the question of what mission he gives them, he alluded to his encyclical that sings the praises of what God has created in the human person, "Magnificent Humanity."
"Be human," he told them. "Yes, be humans -- men and women of flesh and bone, not appearances, but trustworthy faces, people who seek justice because they hunger for it, as for daily bread. People who desire an honest, and upright life, because they gladly do unto others what they want others to do to them. Be human, as Jesus is ....
Here is the full text in the original Spanish and a translation in English.
The Holy Father emphasized the importance of learning how to be silent, noting how young people often have their earbuds in.
First of all, we can discuss how to listen to this voice of God, how to discern whether it is truly God speaking or something else—another temptation, another challenge. When seeking to recognize God’s voice, silence is what can help us the most. I believe it is very important for each of us to cultivate the ability to be silent. Often we wear headphones, listen to music or seek distractions, and we don’t know how to be silent. I believe that it is often precisely in this experience of silence that God can speak to us or that we can discern God’s voice. When we seek silence, we choose what not to listen to and which noises not to let distract us. By freeing ourselves from the clamor of a thousand different voices, we recognize that some mislead our desires, others exploit us without providing for us, and still others speak out of self-interest. It is in silence that we come to understand that ideologies pass away, while the truth always remains. Here, too, I would like to emphasize the importance of seeking the truth, because many voices, many things on social media deceive us and tell us lies. Always seek the truth! God is truth! If it leads you away from God, it is not the truth! Do not forget this!
