January 1, 2012 | FoxNews.com

VATICAN CITY –  Pope Benedict XVI in his New Year’s homily Sunday praised young people as key to securing a future of hope despite what he called “shadows on the horizon of today’s world.”

In the splendor of St. Peter’s Basilica, with ambassadors to the Holy See from dozens of countries seated in the front rows, the pontiff, wearing white vestments with gold-colored trimmings, celebrated Mass on a day the Vatican dedicates to world peace.

“I would like to underline the fact that, in the face of the shadows that obscure the horizon of today’s world, to assume responsibility for educating young people in knowledge of the truth, in fundamental values and virtues, is to look to the future with hope,” the pontiff said.

Young people, he said, must “learn the importance and the art of peaceful coexistence, mutual respect, dialogue and understanding. Young people by their nature are open to these attitudes, but the social reality in which they grow up can lead them to think and act in the opposite way, even to be intolerant and violent,” Benedict said.  But they will become “builders of peace” if properly educated, he predicted
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/01/01/pope-says-future-hopes-lie-with-youth-in-new-years-day-speech/#ixzz1iDks6uZO

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