VATICAN CITY — Mental health, discrimination against minorities, including LGBTQ+ people, and a desire to be included more in Church life were some of the concerns young college students shared with Pope Francis on a Zoom conference call.
“’No’ to discrimination, no. ‘Yes’ to proximity, closeness. Proximity is what leads to love,” the pope said in a response to a comment about discrimination in the Philippines during his more than one-hour dialogue with 12 students June 20.
The conference call was part of Loyola University Chicago’s Building Bridges initiative, which it began in 2022 in partnership with the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and with the support of five other Vatican dicasteries.
The project seeks to create a synodal experience for students attending partner universities in different regions around the world in which student groups listen, dialogue and discern common concerns and hopes that a representative then shares with Pope Francis during a live Zoom call.
The June 20 call was the fourth Building Bridges event and it connected students from the Asia Pacific region, including from Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Philippines and Taiwan.
Divided into four groups of three students each, the students shared personal and common experiences, opinions, appeals and insights with the pope, ending with a question, most often, seeking advice and guidance.
Seamus Lohrey in New Zealand told the pope he thinks the Church should not blame people for not attending Mass and instead it should do more active outreach directly ministering to where people are at.
“We expect people to meet our rules instead of us meeting and then elevating them. I am confident that this turns people away from a relationship with Christ and makes our Church unattractive,” he said.
People who have procured an abortion, for example, are “desperately in need of unconditional love,” and yet, they “must meet our requirements before we fully minister it to them. This is a contradiction of the word unconditional,” he said, asking the pope how they can promote recognizing the dignity of all people and “not just regular Mass attendees.”
The pope did not address every question and statement directly; rather, he picked up on some of the students’ main points and recurring topics.
He said the only thing that seriously attracts people are those who witness Christ with their actions. The pope connected that idea with another student’s concerns about mental health, saying witnessing Christ, helping people feel they belong to a group or community and giving people a chance to participate with others is what builds up a person’s human dignity.
“Belonging is what saves us from vulnerability,” the pope said, asking students to reflect on what their biggest weaknesses are and to let others help them.
Vulnerability is connected to mental health, he said, adding that “one of the things that affects mental health the most is discrimination.”
He asked the students to think about how they might feel discriminated against and how they may discriminate against others, but without losing their sense of belonging and identity that helps them work, accompany and move forward with others.
Editor’s Note: The June 20 video session with Pope Francis is available on YouTube in English and Spanish at https://www.luc.edu/buildingbridges/acrossasiapacific.
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