“Take courage! I have overcome the world.”
Excerpts from Pope Leo’s message for World Youth Day in Seoul, August 2027
Christ’s words begin with an invitation to take courage. I know well that, at times, instead of courage it is uncertainty or fear that can prevail in us, just as they did in the first disciples. Many of you carry questions and concerns that weigh heavily on your hearts. Perhaps you are anxious about the future, feel pressured to succeed and appear perfect, or experience the stress of constantly comparing yourselves with others or with unattainable, manufactured ideals. Under the influence of carefully curated images on social media, you may find it difficult to recognize and accept who you truly are. Indeed, you are longing for genuine affection, since technology cannot replace authentic human closeness but can only imitate empathy. Some of you know what it means to experience loneliness, disappointment or the fear of not being good enough.
Dear young people, true victory does not lie in seeking to prevail over others, but in giving yourselves to them. By following the path opened by Jesus Christ, you too have no need to impose yourselves, to constantly prove your worth, to appear perfect or to conceal your weaknesses, doubts and limitations. Have the courage to be your true selves before God and others. Your dignity does not come from the image you manage to create for yourselves. You are precious because you have been created in the image of God, known by him and loved by him. We discover who we truly are when we recognize that our hearts were created for God: to love him and, in him, to love our brothers and sisters. Indeed, deep within us is the desire to give of ourselves, to devote our lives to the happiness and well-being of others. This is the freedom Christ offers you: the freedom to move beyond an exclusive concern for yourselves and to open your hearts to the generous creativity of love.
Dear young people, opening your hearts to Christ will not cause you to lose yourselves. On the contrary, you will discover more deeply who you are in God’s eyes and come to know yourselves as he sees you. Turn, then, to the depths of your hearts. You will not lose your way, for it is there that God awaits you. Open yourselves to his saving grace. Let his love — the Holy Spirit — shape your lives, and let Jesus dwell within you and guide your decisions. When this happens, everything is made new, even in the ordinary circumstances of daily life: in your faithfulness to your friends, in your respect for those who think differently from you, in your attentiveness to those who are lonely, in your closeness to the most vulnerable, and even in the way you conduct yourselves in the digital world.
Do not wait until you are perfect before opening yourselves to him. He comes to meet you just as you are. Open your lives to Christ. Open your communities to Christ. Open the paths that lead to the hearts of the people you will meet. The risen Lord, who entered through locked doors, continues to come into our midst today. Therefore, do not settle for a life that falls short of the one to which Christ calls you. Allow yourselves to be united and transformed by his love.
