The Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Patriarch Sviatoslav, met with Ukrainian youth on October 7 at the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Rome.
The Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Patriarch Sviatoslav, met with Ukrainian youth on October 7 at the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Rome.
“I would like to listen to you more and hear you more. This is what the delegates of the Pontifical Synod are trying to do today from around the world. To be at the Pontifical Synod on youth in Rome and not to meet with Ukrainian youth would be strange,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
The Head of the UGCC shared his thoughts summing up the speeches of the hierarchs at the Synod who represented the voice of youth from all over the world.
“Our part of life in virtual reality really changes us a lot. It is said that those born after 2000, have a separate name – millennials, they have not seen the world without gadgets. One bishop told such a story: a small child, two years old, perfectly operates an iPod. Once they took the device form her and gave a magazine instead. She pulls with her finger, and the image does not move, and the child starts to think that something is wrong with her finger, that something is wrong with her. Artificial intelligence seems to be a model with which a young man wants to compare himself. But we are not machines,” noted the Head of the UGCC.
He also noted that today young people live in a world full of technology, while they lack regular human relationships and communication, and they often feel lonely. “We in social networks can contact the whole world, have a sea of followers, but feel a terrible thirst for a meeting with a living person,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav also noticed that today the youth grows very quickly, especially in Ukraine, maybe even too fast. “Those guys and girls who saw death at the frontline return home grayish. And when they meet an immature politician, an infantile public leader ... and the biggest disappointment is to encounter an immature priest,” said the Head of the UGCC.
He stressed that today the entire Universal Church is trying to understand the difficulties that young people are facing in order to find adequate answers. "The Methodology of the Pontifical Synod is this: listen, think and act. I would like us to listen to each other, and when we get out - to think and do something,” the Head of the UGCC called on the young people in attendance.
This information is provided by the Department of Information of the UGCC.