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APOSTOLIC JOURNEY TO TOGO, IVORY COAST, CAMEROON,
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC, ZAIRE, KENYA AND MOROCCO

MESSAGE OF POPE JOHN PAUL II
TO THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF KENYA

Nairobi (Kenya)
Saturday, 17 August 1985

 

Dear young people of Kenya,

I am grateful to you for the sentiments that you have expressed to me through your representatives. You are right when you speak about the Pope’s love and concern for the youth in the world.

And today I have come here in order to communicate this love and concern especially to you, the young people of Kenya. The particular message that I have wished to offer to you during the Eucharistic celebration is the Word of Jesus, as it relates to the great mystery of human love and human life in the sacrament of marriage. You have understood perfectly the secret of successful Christian living when you proclaim, as you do, that Jesus, present in the Eucharist, is our strength, courage, source of inspiration and enthusiasm.

Yes, dear young people, Jesus is your life and it is on the basis of his Word, on the foundation of his Gospel, that you must build the future of your lives, the future of Africa, the future of the world.

The Church does not proclaim simplistic solutions to those problems of the world which you know so well and of which you speak. She does not offer you some magic formula. You, yourselves, must work hard and perseveringly. But, with all the power of her being, the Church proclaims the supreme relevance of the Word of Christ, as it applies to all the concrete situations of your personal lives, your nation and whole world.

To reinforce your own conviction, Christ himself repeats to you today: “I am the Way, and the Truth and the life”. And this same Jesus, the eternal Son of God, the Word incarnate, the Son of Mary, will be with you always, as you work and struggle and pray to build the Kingdom of God on Earth. The Eucharist in the pledge of this, and the end of the Eucharistic Congress is only the beginning: the beginning of a new challenge to live fully with Christ and to build a world community of justice and truth, of freedom, love and peace.

Young people of Kenya, lift up your eyes in hope and keep them fixed on Jesus in the mystery of his Eucharistic love.

I wish at this time also to mention that the young people of Verona in Italy, have entrusted to me a gift for the needs of the young people of Kenya. This gift is given as a sign of their love and fraternal solidarity.

 

© Copyright 1985 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

 



Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana