(from our correspondents in Sydney) Faith is "an added gear" for our freedom, said the President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, speaking to several hundred Italian youth gathered in the church of St. Mary, in Sydney, for the first catechesis of WYD. "All of us continued Cardinal Bagnasco are tempted to consider ourselves free when we do what we want. Nothing is more false". "Freedom from constraints" is merely a "false freedom", conceived as "an arbitrary act, and not a choice for our own good": we are "free to get drunk", he continued, illustrating the point with an example, but no one thinks this is a good thing. Faith, on the contrary, "liberates our freedom", revealing the true nature of "what apparently seems favourable to man, whereas in reality it is contrary to it". Greeted with enthusiasm, the cardinal stopped to chat with the youngsters for several minutes after the catechesis, and they responded by showing their affection and joy for his closeness to them.
