24 April" "
“It’s very significant that this symposium, the first of the new millennium, should deal with youth. It shows that the Church is looking to the future with confidence”: So said Archbishop Josip Bozanic of Zagreb (Croatia) and vice-president of the CCEE, at the press conference held in the Vatican on the morning of 24 April. “After the fall of Communism he continued the hope in a Europe considered as a ‘common home’ has grown in the countries of Eastern Europe. We have emerged from a strong experience of faith, because it was put to the test by the persecutions. Now we are all called to tackle another challenge, that involves both East and West: how to translate the new situation of freedom into various proposals that are able to reach young people and help them to live the Christian life”. According to Bozanic, this is the moment in which the young of the two parts of Europe, East and West, “must meet together, dialogue and help each reciprocally to go forward and not stop at the point they met. Various events that have happened in recent times show that there is only one way: forward and not backward”. Questioned about the religious experience of the young, the archbishop maintained that today “the young feel the need for God, even if there is a dissociation from specific institutions. I believe therefore that both the Church and the young must strive for a greater reciprocal understanding. I am optimistic about the young and hope that they understand the need for them to play an active part in society. We need to build the future together”.
