Dec 19, 2007 / 10:00 am
“If peace is the fruit of justice, it is even more so of forgiveness, which truly seals the reconciliation between those who are divided and allows them to walk together,” Pope Benedict XVI told a meeting of young people organized by the Taize community in the city of Geneva.
In a message to the young people who will meet in Geneva December 28 through January 1, the Holy Father underscored that by “accepting God’s forgiveness given to us in the sacrament of Reconciliation, you also can be artisans of forgiveness to others and build a reconciled world.”
This meeting of young people is an opportunity to open “new paths of hope, holding fast to the Word of God and to the intimacy of life in Christ,” the Pope said in his message sent through the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
“Only Christ offers us the key to true hope,” the message continued, “a hope that surpasses the little hope we may have, because He guides us towards the future and towards eternal happiness, toward which we walk each day, personally and as the Church.”
More than 40,000 young people from Europe and around the world are expected to attend the gathering in Geneva organized by the Taize Community.