To the youths: build bridges, not walls

A meeting that became dialogue. A friendly encounter, marked by the yearning to discover one another. Pope Francis felt the love of young people of Bosnia Herzegovina towards himself, who opened up like a father who gives advice to his children and responds to their quest for truth and life. They inherited a past of war and destruction, whose wounds and still open and strive to heal. But the times are changing: We are “leaving behind completely the dark clouds of storms gone by”, the Pope said upon his arrival – so that after the winter chill, springtime may come to blossom”. The Pope proposed the same image to youths gathered at the diocesan centre John Paul II in Sarajevo. You are “the first post-war generation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, your are the blossoming flowers of spring that doesn’t intend to return to the devastation, to those things that make us enemies. I find in you this yearning, this enthusiasm, and this is new for me”. Difficulties, new hopes. Unemployment, material poverty, relationship difficulties, spiritual shortcomings, and a problematic political and economic situation limit the choices and opportunities for growth. It is not easy, today, to be young in Bosnia and Herzegovina where, according to the World Bank, the youth unemployment rate has reached, in 2014, 60.4%. A generation, in short, with no peace but to whom the Holy Father has entrusted the hope of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Pope Francis took them by the hand, one by one, he wanted to meet them, encouraged them to be the protagonists of their own future and that of their country, a future of dialogue and peaceful coexistence. “Work for peace together,” was his warning. “A peace that will bring us joy”. “Mir Vama” and smartphones. Two-thousand attended the vigil of June 5 to prepare for the encounter of the following day organized at the parish church of Stup, seat of the youth centre, which left behind more than a sign of hope. A joyful, coloured population, prayed for the whole evening. They sang, holding their guitars, they took part in the vigil, and stood in line for the confession. They lit candles in memory of all Christians victims of violence in the Middle East and throughout the world. With the same enthusiasm, eight hundred (but there were over three thousand outside) welcomed him Saturday afternoon in the youth centre with the tools of their generation: armed extended with their smartphones to capture a moment, their white scarves around their necks with the slogan of the visit, “Mir Vama”, Peace to you, coloured t-shirts, smiles, chants and dance. A captivating celebration also for the Holy Father, that brought smiles and also reflections to many, when, inviting to make an appropriate use of television and social networks said: “I belong to an old generation, dating back to stone age”. “Your vocation…”. In the country with the emerald rivers and the bridges that cross them – the thoughts go to that of Visegrad, dear to the writer Ivo Andric, to the destroyed and rebuilt bridge in Mostar, as to the Latin bridge over the river Miljacka, the site where World War I was sparked off. Here, Pope Francis’ invitation to youths, is “building bridges, not walls, ensuring passage from side to the other”. “This is our vocation – he told them – . The bridge always unites. When the bridge is not used to go towards each other, when it is a forbidden bridge, it becomes a city’s ruin, the bane of existence. From you I expect bridge building, and a chance to go from one side to the other. This is brotherhood”. “I expect honesty and not hypocrisy”. Living together is possible, therefore, especially when the choices of life are dictated by faith, whichever it is. The stories of Darko Majstorovic, Catholic, and Nadezda Mojsilovic, Orthodox, before the Holy Father, testified to an authentic commitment that eliminates fears and prejudices. “I see that you do not want destruction; you do not want to make enemies of each other. You want to walk together and this is great!” During the Mass before 65 thousand people, including large numbers of youths, was heard his cry: “No more wars”. An “ever topical appeal, valid for all generations”. “All are capable of proclaiming peace, even in a hypocritical, or indeed duplicitous, manner”, the Pope said in Saturday’s homily. “Crafting peace is a skilled work”. “Blessed are those who sow peace by their daily actions”. Like the youths he met in Sarajevo. The Pope with them is also demanding: “From you I expect honesty in your thoughts, feelings and actions. The opposite is called hypocrisy”.