Pope Francis visited the Portuguese headquarters of the youth educational initiative called Scholas Occurrentes. He was accompanied by the President of Portugal.
The audience was made up of young people from different cultures and religions. But together, they had one question in common: how to deal with crisis. They even asked the Pope how to face moments of difficulty in life.
POPE FRANCIS
A life without crisis is like distilled water—it tastes like nothing. It is good for nothing but to keep it in the closet and close it tightly. Crises must be assumed and solved because staying in the crisis is not good either because it is a continuous suicide.
The young people of Scholas painted the largest community mural in the world: measuring nearly two miles long. Even Pope Francis left his mark on the mural.
Before leaving, the Pope left a gift for the youth: a painting of the scene of the Good Samaritan that featured all the characters that appear in the parable. He recommended the youth to think about which character they identify themselves with. He encouraged them to follow the example of the Good Samaritan with this reason:
POPE FRANCIS
Sometimes in life you have to get your hands dirty so you don't dirty your heart.
At the end of the ceremony, Pope Francis left the building to bless an olive tree, the peace symbol chosen by Scholas.
The Scholas initiative is an educational project created by a decree by the Pope himself. It promotes the collaboration of young people to solve the problems in their cities. Scholas has over one million participants around the world.
JRB
TR: AT
