No longer "Generation X"” “

If most Europeans will remember the summer of 2005 as a difficult time for the European Union due to the failed approval of the Constitutional Treaty by the French and the Dutch and the fear of renewed terrorist attacks after those in London, others will have been astonished by the freshness and joie de vivre of the millions of young people from all over the world who took to the streets of the old Europe. From World Youth Day in Cologne to the streets of Santiago de Compostela, from the funeral of Frère Roger at Taizé to the Meeting in Rimini, a single common denominator was shared by these events that characterized the ‘other’ summer of 2005: the fact that the protagonists of them all were the young. No longer a faceless Generation X devoid of identity and points of reference, characterized by resignation and incuriosity, the young are now protagonists of their own destiny. They are conscious of their future and yearn to shape it. They are no longer youth characterized by congenital pessimism, by resignation to the failure of the society of adults and by a total mistrust in life. These were the characteristics of the over eighty million American youth born into the world between 1961 and 1981: the protagonists of Douglas Coupland’s novel “Generation X”. The youth of these meetings in the summer of 2005, by contrast, marked the end of the generation of anonymity. What we were able to see is a generation that has shown that it has liberated itself of the prejudices of its predecessors and that is driven by the conviction of the need to give rise to a well structured European community, not only at the economic and political, but also at the cultural and spiritual level. For thousands of European youth, the celebration of World Youth Day was an occasion to reflect on the European identity and on the role that Europe can play in the world. At Cologne, the young showed themselves full of enthusiasm and animated by a great desire to become Christian protagonists of the new Europe: a Europe built on friendship between peoples, on solidarity; a Europe that places man firmly at the centre rather than national economic interests or the public accounts of a single country. These youth are urging Europe to have values. They are telling Europe that they too can contribute to the promotion of a common project that can restore hope and joy to its citizens. Their Europe is not limited to mere geographic questions. European youth are aware that Europe has a special responsibility towards the rest of the world. Europe gave birth to some of the most disastrous and barbarous tragedies that characterized the history of the last century. And now European Christian youth want to forge significant relations with their contemporaries throughout the world. They want to foster the Christian roots of their continent to promote an action of dialogue and peace that is extended to the whole world and that finds its foundation in faith in the living God. At Cologne as at Taizé the young wished to privilege the personal meeting with Christ. The experience of faith that these young people shared this summer is characterized by a greater predisposition to essentiality and by a greater sensibility to truth, which demonstrate that it is possible today to be Christians in post-modern European culture. It is now up to our Churches to try to harvest and promote the fruits of these events. Now, in the run-up to the 7th Conference of the Ministers with responsibilities for youth (Budapest, 23-24 September 2005), it is up to our ministers to respond to this great desire of our young people to contribute to the construction of “their” Europe.