World Youth Day 2021: Pope Francis asks young Catholics to be ‘critical conscience of society’

Pope Francis urged young Catholics on Sunday to “be the critical conscience of society” as he celebrated a Mass marking the 36th World Youth Day.

Offering the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Nov. 21, the feast of Christ the King, the pope encouraged young people to swim against society’s current, but without turning into “perpetual victims and conspiracy theorists.”

He said: “Friends, we are not here to be enchanted by the sirens of the world, but to take our lives in hand, to ‘take a bite out of life,’ in order to live it to the full.”

“Not the daily temptation to swim against other people, like those perpetual victims and conspiracy theorists who are always casting blame on others; but rather against the unhealthy current of our own selfishness, closed-mindedness, and rigidity that often seeks like-minded groups to survive.”

He exhorted young people to avoid “ambiguous compromises.”

“Instead, be free and authentic, be the critical conscience of society,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to criticize! We need your criticism. Many of you, for example, are critical of environmental pollution. We need this! Be free in criticism.”

“Be passionate about truth, so that, with your dreams, you can say: ‘My life is not captive to the mindset of the world: I am free, because I reign with Jesus for justice, love and peace!’”

WYD is observed in local dioceses, but every two to three years there is a week-long international celebration, typically held in July or August, drawing hundreds of thousands of people. The next gathering will be in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, in 2023.

The Vatican asked Church leaders in May to “give more importance to the diocesan celebration of WYD” when it released new pastoral guidelines on marking the event.

He based his homily on two images drawn from the day’s readings: Jesus “coming amid the clouds” in the Book of Revelation and Christ standing before Pilate, declaring that he is a king.

The pope said that the first image evokes Christ’s coming at the end of time and “makes us realize that the final word on our life will belong to Jesus.”

He added that it shows that “God is indeed coming, that he is present and at work, guiding our history towards himself, towards all goodness.”

Pope Francis referred to his message for World Youth Day 2021, released on Sept. 27, in which he invited young Catholics to “arise and bear witness” to the Gospel.

He said: “Lift your gaze from earth to heaven, not in order to flee but to resist the temptation to remain imprisoned by our fears, for there is always the danger that our fears will rule us. Do not remain closed in on ourselves and our complaints. Lift up your eyes! Get up!”