Let Us Pause and Reason Together …

Each week we let Saint Pope John Paul II share meaningful signposts to spark socio-economic resolves through justice and righteousness combined with mercy and compassion; in short, love.

The World Youth Day, celebrated this year in Denver, allows me to meet you and express my profound esteem and friendship to the American people.

There is a special joy in coming to America to celebrate this "World Youth Day." A Nation which is itself still young … I come to Denver to listen to the young people gathered here, to experience their inexhaustible quest for life. Each successive "World Youth Day" has been a confirmation of young people's openness to the meaning of life as a gift received, a gift to which they are eager to respond by striving for a better world for themselves and their fellow human beings.

             I believe that we could correctly interpret their deepest aspirations by saying that what they ask is that society – especially the leaders of nations and all who control peoples' destinies – accept them as authentic partners in constructing a more humane, more just, more compassionate world.

             They ask for the opportunity to contribute their specific ideas and energies to this task. 

             The well-being of the world's children and young people must be of immense concern to all who have public responsibilities.

…

But how do we help them?

             Only by instilling a high moral vision can a society ensure that its young people are given the possibility to mature as free and intelligent human beings, endowed with a robust sense of responsibility to the common good, capable of working with others to create a community and a nation with a strong moral fiber. 

America is built on such a vision.

             The American people possess the intelligence and will to meet the challenge of rededicating themselves with renewed vigor to fostering the truths on which this country was founded and by which it grew.

             Those truths are enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, and they still today receive a broad consensus among Americans.

             Those truths sustain values that have led people worldwide to look to America with hope and respect. 

To all Americans, without exception, I present this invitation: Let us pause and reason together. 

             To educate without a value system based on truth is to abandon young people to moral confusion, personal insecurity, and easy manipulation.

             No country, not even the most powerful, can endure if it deprives its children of this essential good. 

             Respect for the dignity and worth of every person's integrity, responsibility, understanding, compassion, and solidarity towards others survive if they are passed on in families, schools, and communications media. 

            The ultimate test of your greatness is how you treat every human being, but especially the weakest and most defenseless ones.

America has a strong tradition of respect for the individual, for human dignity, and human rights. I gladly acknowledged this during my previous visit to the United States in 1987:

             "America, you are beautiful and blessed in so many ways... But your best beauty and your richest blessing are found in the human person: in each man, woman, and child, in every immigrant, in every native-born son and daughter. 

             The best traditions of your land presume respect for those who cannot defend themselves. If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then, America, support life! All the great causes that are yours today will have meaning only to the extent that you guarantee the right to life and protest the human person". 

             The bounty and providence of God have laid an enormous responsibility on the people and Government of the United States. But that burden is also the opportunity for true greatness. Together with millions of people worldwide, I share the profound hope that the United States will spare no effort to advance authentic freedom and foster human rights and solidarity [unity]. 

May God guide this nation and keep alive in it – for endless generations to come – the flame of liberty and justice for all. 

May God bless you all! God bless America! 

Excerpted from:

APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II TO JAMAICA, MEXICO, AND DENVER (COLORADO) ON THE OCCASION OF THE EIGHTH WORLD YOUTH DAY 
(AUGUST 8-16, 1993)

WELCOME CEREMONY IN DENVER 

ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER JOHN PAUL II

International Airport of Denver Thursday, 12 August 1993 

http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/1993/august/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19930812_welcome-denver-gmg.html