More than a million and a half young people accompany the Pope at the WYD Vigil in Lisbon

The Pope says that "joy is missionary" and warns young people that "nothing is free, only the love of Jesus"

More than a million and a half young people, according to the official Vatican website 'Vatican News', have accompanied Pope Francis this Saturday at the World Youth Day (WYD) Vigil, in Parque Tejo in Lisbon, Portugal. .

The Pontiff arrived at the place where this central event was to take place shortly before nightfall and toured the compound in the popemobile to greet the crowds of boys and girls who were waiting for him.

After an act in which testimonials, singing, dancing, drones and two jets hovering over the central altar were not lacking, the Pope gave a speech in which he decided to improvise to engage in dialogue with those present.

Specifically, the Pontiff invited young people to take the "joy" of this event beyond Lisbon, and encouraged them to help people who fall along the way, warning that it is only "licit" to look at a person "from top to bottom" to "help her up".

"Joy is missionary, joy is not for one, it is to bring something. And I ask you who are here, who have come to meet, to seek the message of Christ, to seek a beautiful meaning in life: Are you going to keep this for yourselves or are you going to take it to others? What do you think? I can't hear", emphasized the Pontiff, inviting everyone to repeat together "joy is missionary".

During his speech, delivered in Spanish, the Pope specified that this "joy", in reference to faith, comes from parents, grandparents, friends, priests, religious, catechists or teachers. "Others prepared us to receive it", Francisco pointed out, inviting the boys and girls to observe a few seconds of silence to remember those people. "Did they find faces? Did they find stories?" The Pontiff asked, adding that they are "the roots" of his joy.

In this sense, he has encouraged young people to become, they too, roots of joy for other people, and he has warned them that joy is not "under lock and key" or "in the locked library", although he has told them clarified that "you have to study".

"Joy - the Pope has qualified - must be sought, must be discovered in our dialogue with others, where we have to give those roots of joy that we have received."

DO NOT THROW THE SPONGE

Although, he has recognized that this "sometimes tires" and has asked the participants in the Vigil if they "ever got tired". The young people have answered in the affirmative and, then, Bergoglio has warned them that at that time they should not "throw the sponge", they should not give up.

However, he has specified that when one "falls" in life, "has a failure" or "makes heavy, strong mistakes", his life is not finished and he needs others to help him get up. In this sense, he recalled a song by mountaineers: "When climbing the mountain, what matters is not not falling, but not staying down."

"He who remains fallen has already retired from life, closed, closed hope, closed the illusion and there he remains fallen. If we see some of our friends who are fallen, what do we have to do? Raise it, strong. Raise it, "has insisted the Pope.

Thus, Francisco has warned that this is the only occasion in which it is allowed to look at someone from above. "When you have to lift or help lift a person, what gesture do you make? You look at them from top to bottom. The only opportunity, the only time it is lawful to look at a person from top to bottom, is to help them get up. How many times do we see people looking at us like this, over their shoulders, from top to bottom? It's sad," the Pontiff reflected.

WHAT IS BEHIND A GOAL?

All of this, as Bergoglio has summarized, is "the path" and he added that "permanence" and "training" are important during it, making a comparison with soccer.

"In life, to achieve things, you have to train along the way, sometimes we don't feel like walking, we don't feel like making an effort, we cheat on exams because we don't want to study, and we don't achieve success. I don't know "If some like football. I like it. Behind a goal, what is there? A lot of training", he commented.

Finally, Pope Francis has warned boys and girls that "nothing in life is free, everything is paid for" and that "there is only one thing free: the love of Jesus", for which he has invited them to go " forward, without fear", walking "in hope" and "looking at its roots".