The youth of the world

Pope Francis is headed to Portugal for World Youth Day, an event started by Pope John Paul II that remains transformational for Catholic young people. A papal event isn't breaking news, but it could be even more important.

I was 40 when I experienced World Youth Day for the first time, in Poland that year. I was covering it, not joining in. But it was impossible not to be impacted by it. It was the summer Hillary Rodham Clinton and Donald Trump were running for president. I distinctly remember waking up in the middle of the night to watch the political conventions and posting some regrettable tweets about them. Despite my presence at a religious event, I was still getting distracted by the secular world.

In Krakow that summer, almost every Uber driver I encountered asked me about politics in the United States. They wondered why Americans couldn't come up with alternatives to the two major presidential candidates. "You're a big country and this is the best you can come up with!"

One day, just before Pope Francis arrived, I moderated a panel on religious freedom in front of a crowd of 20,000 English-speaking pilgrims. Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil, Iraq, was one of the panelists; he got a standing ovation from a crowd of young people whom I suspect knew little about his struggle against genocide until that day. A mother helping lead one of the delegations reached out to me afterward and thanked me for focusing on hope. She shared how distressing she found the presidential election that year and how the event was helping her keep her eyes on more fundamental things.

During the papal event that August, I remember trying to get in to a Stations of the Cross service with Pope Francis and never making it past security, despite having tickets. I was there with an American priest, and we thought the circumstances were fitting. There were sacrifices we were all being called to make for the sake of love and virtue. Obviously, not getting a decent spot at the pope's event there wasn't transformational, but it was symbolic. We don't always get the best spot. We don't always get the grand entrance. But there's something important about making the effort to be present at something like that. The Stations are about following Jesus in His Passion, and the people He encounters on the way. Some are drawn to Him. One helps Him. Others cry to Him. One tries to offer a balm during His suffering. We all suffer. There is a universal message beyond Christian belief there, one that was driven home for me as I watched, not from the center, but from the sidelines.

One day during those weeks in Poland, I was running an errand and encountered an Uber driver who helped me on what would have otherwise been a wild-goose chase. He accompanied me with a grandfatherly joy. That in many ways reflects the best of these World Youth Day events. The interaction of a pope with young people and his gratitude for them and their reverence for him.

At a time when most of our political leaders are grandfathers, may World Youth Day be a moment for courage beyond the Catholic Church and the United States. On so many fronts, we need to encourage younger people take the next steps in love and leadership for a new generation to present the best of what humanity is made for.

klopez@nationalreview.com