• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Pope Francis waves as he arrives for a meeting with thousands of young people taking part in a pilgrimage organized by the Italian bishops' conference in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 18, 2022. (CNS photo/Remo Casilli, Reuters)

Light of risen Christ dispels darkness of fear, pope tells young people

April 19, 2022
By Junno Arocho Esteves
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, World News, Youth Ministry

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Young people should not allow the darkness of fear to overwhelm them and instead allow the light of Easter to illuminate their lives and give them courage, Pope Francis said.

Fears “must be brought to light. And when fears, which are in darkness, come into the light, the truth bursts out. Do not be discouraged: If you are afraid, put it to the light and it will do you good!” the pope told thousands of young men and women gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

The April 18 event, titled “Seguimi” (“Follow Me”), was organized by the Italian bishops’ conference and brought young teens from all of Italy for a prayer vigil in Rome. While initial projections expected 57,000 people at the event, the Vatican said an estimated 100,000 young people were present.

It was the first large-scale gathering of its kind in St. Peter’s Square since the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered all public events in the country in 2020.

After riding around and greeting the crowd on his popemobile, Pope Francis welcomed them and said the “square has long been waiting to be filled with your presence, your faces, and your enthusiasm.”

“Today, all of you are together, coming from Italy, in the embrace of this square and in the joy of the Easter that we have just celebrated,” he said.

However, the pope said that although Jesus’ resurrection “conquered the darkness of death,” there are still dense clouds “that darken our time.”

“In addition to the pandemic, Europe is experiencing a terrible war, while injustices and violence continue in many regions of the earth that destroy humankind and the planet,” he said. “Often it is your peers who pay the highest price: Not only is their existence compromised and made insecure, but their dreams for the future are trampled on. Many brothers and sisters are still waiting for the light of Easter.”

Reflecting on a Gospel reading from St. John, in which the risen Christ appears to his disciples while they were fishing on the Sea of Galilee, the pope said young people, like the disciples, can experience moments in life that “put us to the test” and “make us feel naked, helpless and alone.”

In those times of uncertainty, he continued, young people must not keep to themselves, because “fears must be said, fears must be expressed in order to be able to drive them away.”

“Darkness puts us in crisis; but the problem lies in how we manage this crisis,” the pope explained. “If I keep it only for myself, for my heart, and I don’t talk about it with anyone, it doesn’t work. In times of crisis, you have to talk, talk with the friend who can help, with your dad, your mom, your grandfather, your grandmother, with a person who can help. Crises must be illuminated to overcome them.”

He also encouraged the young men and women present to not be afraid of life and all that it entails but instead to be afraid “of the death of the soul, of the death of the future, of the closure of the heart.”

“Life is beautiful, life is meant to be lived and to give it to others; life is meant to be shared with others, not to close it in on itself,” he said.

Like children who call on their mother when in need, Pope Francis said Christians can call upon Mary who, in her adolescence, “accepted her extraordinary vocation to be the mother of Jesus.”

“May Our Lady — the mother who was almost your age when she received the angel’s announcement and became pregnant with him — teach you to say: ‘Here I am!'” the pope said.

– – –

Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju

Read More Vatican News

Vatican can take 3 key steps to bring Ukrainian kids back from Russia, says child advocate

Pope sets Sept. 7 for joint canonization of Blesseds Acutis and Frassati

Pope’s brother says even as a baby, future pontiff had a spiritual ‘air’ about him

Pope ‘deeply saddened’ by tragic Air India plane crash

Diversity is cause for strength, not division, pope tells Rome clergy

Pope Leo to return to practice of ‘imposing’ pallium on new archbishops

Copyright © 2022 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Junno Arocho Esteves

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Pope Leo to return to practice of ‘imposing’ pallium on new archbishops

  • Archbishop Lori announces appointments, including pastor and associate pastor assignments

  • Pope’s brother says even as a baby, future pontiff had a spiritual ‘air’ about him

  • Hundreds gather at Rebuilt Conference 2025 to ‘imagine what’s possible’ in parish ministry

  • Pope sets Sept. 7 for joint canonization of Blesseds Acutis and Frassati

| Latest Local News |

Sister Joan Minella, former principal and pastoral life director, dies

Archbishop Lori offers encouragement to charitable agencies affected by federal cuts

Incoming superior general of Oblate Sisters of Providence outlines priorities

Archbishop Lori announces appointments, including pastor and associate pastor assignments

Oblate Sister Trinita Baeza, teacher and pastoral associate in Baltimore, dies at 98

| Latest World News |

Vatican can take 3 key steps to bring Ukrainian kids back from Russia, says child advocate

Delaware garden of plenty provides food to needy, thanks to Vincentians, parishes

Pope sets Sept. 7 for joint canonization of Blesseds Acutis and Frassati

As revival’s Year of Mission draws to close, organizers look back — and ahead

Texas prisoners’ witness of faith makes prison visit ‘a highlight’ of eucharistic pilgrimage

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Vatican can take 3 key steps to bring Ukrainian kids back from Russia, says child advocate
  • Practice the ‘BeDADitudes’
  • Delaware garden of plenty provides food to needy, thanks to Vincentians, parishes
  • Pope sets Sept. 7 for joint canonization of Blesseds Acutis and Frassati
  • Texas prisoners’ witness of faith makes prison visit ‘a highlight’ of eucharistic pilgrimage
  • As revival’s Year of Mission draws to close, organizers look back — and ahead
  • Amid unrest in LA over ICE raids, faithful urged to pray for peace in streets, city
  • Pew: Christianity up in sub-Saharan Africa, down worldwide due to those leaving the faith
  • Pope’s brother says even as a baby, future pontiff had a spiritual ‘air’ about him

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED