Shrine of Fatima. Card. Tagle: “Young people, never stop dreaming of peace”

(from Fatima) “I call on young people: 'never to stop dreaming of peace'.” These were the first remarks of Card. Luis Antonio Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelisation, interviewed by SIR after celebrating Mass in the parvis of the Shrine of Fatima with thousands of young people on their way to Lisbon for World Youth Day. Pope Francis arrives in Fatima on Saturday, August 5, adding this stop to his WYD programme to offer Mary a special prayer for an end to the war in the heart of Europe and many other parts of the world.

What can young people do for peace?

They can influence the generations that preceded them and those to come so that the dream of peace will be cherished. In Pacem in Terris, Pope John XXIII wrote that peace is a fruit.

This means that peace cannot be achieved without taking certain steps. These steps are those of justice, of truth, of love and of respect for the dignity of the human person. Do we want peace? Let us take these steps.

Pope Francis will come here to ask for the gift of peace. Why Fatima?

Because it contains the Message of Our Lady of Fatima, which asks us to pray for the conversion of hearts.

There can be no peace without the conversion of hearts, of attitudes, of priorities.

We know that conflicts are deep-rooted and calling for the conversion of hearts means addressing the underlying causes of the absence of peace. But we need the Lord's grace. Because only the Holy Spirit can touch people's hearts to the core.

In so many parts of the world, while young people from nations around the world are gathered here in Lisbon, rockets continue to fall and claim victims. Do you think the Blessed Virgin Mary can do anything? 

In the Gospel, Mary is a presence of peace. Let us look at the moment of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. There is agony, darkness, peacelessness. There is violence against an innocent person. And there is also the betrayal of friends who had promised to remain faithful, but in the end left Jesus alone. Mary remained.

She is a guarantor of peace because she tells us, yesterday as today, that she will never abandon humanity to the darkness of war.
M. Chiara Biagioni