2023-08-03 16:30:00
August 3, 2023 / 9:30am
From the heart of Lisbon, the Portuguese city that has welcomed almost a million young people participating in WYD, the new Archbishop of Madrid (Spain) and future Cardinal, Msgr. José Cobo, tells ACI Prensa his vision of this meeting world.
Mons. Cobo, Archbishop of the Spanish capital since July 8 and who will be created a Cardinal by Pope Francis in the next consistory, affirms that “We are facing a different generation of young people.”
Despite the figures that indicate a decline in religious practice in Spain, the future Cardinal claims to be surprised by the testimony of those present at WYD and highlights that “young people have shown that these analyzes may fail”.
“I think we see a generation that is surprising us, it is surprising me here. Perhaps we were thinking of the young people that we were or of the ones immediately before, but this generation is new”.
For Bishop Cobo, this “new generation” also brings some “new steps and he has to talk to us about what the interaction between them is, what the experience of spirituality and search iswhich is the concern for the hope of the world, which has it”.
“I think,” he continues, “that for them it is an incentive and for us it is also a challenge, how to allow ourselves to be challenged by everything that this youth is asking for right now, which is different from what the previous ones asked for,” he stresses.
In this line, he pointed out that the greatest challenge facing young Catholics today is “give the world a different perspectivethat is, neither ideology, nor polarization, nor even the economy, has the last word”.
“There are experiences of fraternity, of meeting, that are possible and I believe that young people are living it and they are demonstrating it to all our societies, that the encounter is stronger than the currents that are prevailing”, he asserted.
For all those young people who are going through a moment of “crisis of faith” or who are going through a period of difficulty, the Archbishop encourages them to “letting oneself be helped” by others to “find hope”.
“I think there is hope. Hope opens here in Lisbon and in so many places. Surely these young people who are having a hard time have groups of young believers around them who are going to open the door and tell them that there are other more important things and that they are being felt here”.
He also spoke about the “surprise” that the news of his next purple brought: “This has been in 24 hours. I have the beginning of the ministry in the diocese of Madrid on the 8th (July) and on the 9th they call me by phone telling me that the Pope has said from the window of the Vatican that he was a Cardinal ”.
“I’m a little in awe, and it’s also a time to situate myself in a new way.. Already being Archbishop of Madrid is a new perspective, also for the Spanish Church. And, suddenly, also the cardinalate, is to open myself to the mission of helping the Pope in what the universal Church means. I am learning, I am still with the ‘L’”, she assures with a smile.
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The sessions Rise up
From the “Santa Cruz do Castelo” Church in Lisbon, Mons. Cobo gave his second catechesis this Thursday, August 3 Rise up focused on “social friendship”.
This is a new model of catechism for World Youth Day that challenges young people to reflect on major themes launched during the Pope’s pontificate.
As Bishop José Cobo explained to ACI Prensa, it is also “a process of helping young people to make a believing reading of what is happening here. That is to say, to help them not to go through Lisbon or simply come with their group, but in the first place to interact and talk with other groups”.
“Then, to read what is happening here. And third, to try to delve into the core issues that are having. Today we are delving into the meaning of social friendship, yesterday we talked about development and integral ecology, tomorrow we will talk about mercy”.
After the catechism given by the Archbishop, the young people have a time for reflection and a round of questions that they answer as a group. The church where Bishop Cobo shared his catechism was full of young people from Spain, Venezuela and Mexico.
Almudena Martínez-Bordiú is a Spanish journalist, correspondent for ACI Prensa in Rome and the Vatican, with four years of experience in religious information.
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