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The young people's Pope

By Helen Ransom - posted Friday, 8 April 2005


A major contribution the Pope made in this area was to establish the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, providing postgraduate centres of theology and philosophy that promoted a "culture of life". The Institute has campuses throughout the world, including in Melbourne, which has around 300 students, mainly in their 20s and 30s, after just 4 years.

Cardinal George Pell has suggested that young people yearn for this sort of undiluted teaching, that they're not interested in "Catholic-lite", a watered down version of the Faith.

The Pope's official biographer, George Weigel, has reiterated this, saying that when speaking with the young, he did not take the edge off a Christian message he clearly lived himself. "Perhaps most importantly, he did not pander to young people, challenging them to settle for nothing less than moral grandeur," said Weigel.

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"At a time in Western history when virtually no other world figure was calling young people to bear burdens and make sacrifices, John Paul touched the youthful thirst for the heroic and related it to the human search for God."

There is no doubt that Pope John Paul II will continue to touch the hearts and minds of people young and old in his death, as he did in his life. May he rest in peace.

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First published in the Herald Sun on April 5, 2005.



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About the Author

Helen Ransom is a political adviser and is currently studying a Grad Dip in Theology at Catholic Theological College, Melbourne.

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