Seeking to serve the disadvantaged in fellowship

Pope Francis sends a message to participants in a meeting of the Catholic Association of Italian Guides and Scouts (AGESCI), and invites scout leaders to show young people a Christian path towards fraternal communion and service to one another.

August 26, 2024

Participants at the AGESCI event in Verona (ANSA)

By Tiziana Campisi
In a message to participants in the Route of Agesci Community Leaders, Pope Francis stressed the importance of “educational commitment” towards “children, adolescents and young people who need to be guided with wisdom and supported with affection.”

He stressed the need for quality training, adding: “Educators teach primarily through their lives, more than with words.”

The Association of Italian Catholic Guides and Scouts (AGESCI) must be “a school of Christian life, an opportunity for fraternal communion, a school of service to others, especially to the most disadvantaged and needy,” he stressed.

Around 18,000 people are taking part in the AGESCI Community Leaders Route, which takes place in the northern Italian city of Verona and ends on Sunday.

“Do not let yourselves be paralyzed by difficulties, but always move forward in search of the plan that God has for each of you,” the Pope encouraged.

He urged scout leaders to draw “new enthusiasm from faith in Jesus, master and friend, to continue with joy the human and spiritual journey within the Church, bearing witness to the Gospel in society.”

Educational engagement requires quality training
In his message, the Pope stressed the need for “quality formation” as well as “the willingness to listen and empathize with others, because it is in this area that evangelization takes root and bears fruit.”

He encouraged them to develop “the ability to listen and the art of dialogue,” saying that this comes from “a life of prayer, where one enters into dialogue with the Lord, remaining in His presence to learn from Him the art of self-giving love,” so that life can gradually enter “into harmony with the heart of the Master.”

We teach more with our lives than with our words.
Pope Francis recalled that “Jesus knew when to be present or absent, when it was time to correct or to praise, to accompany or the time to send and leave the Apostles to face the missionary challenge.”

Through these “formative interventions,” the disciples gradually shaped “their lives to resemble the Lord’s.”

The Pope concluded his message by emphasizing that educators teach above all “with their lives, more than with words,” adding that their “constant human and spiritual growth” is “fundamental” for an “effective service to the younger generations.”–Vatican News