Christians, Muslims, Hindus performed before him songs and dances on the theme of reconciliation, especially, and with much enthusiasm. The Holy Father’s Sept. 4-10, 2019, visit to the ‘three ‘M’s’ of Mozambique, Madagascar, and Mauritius, marks the Pope’s 31st Apostolic Trip, fourth visit to Africa, and second to Sub-Saharan Africa. It also represents his attention to the peripheries and the poor. Each of these nations had been visited by St. Pope John Paul II during his pontificate.

The Holy Father warned against resignation and anxiety,” calling them “great enemies of life,” and told the young people: “don’t let yourselves be robbed of joy.”

“Be able to create social friendship,” the Pope encouraged them. It’s about “leaving differences aside to fight together for a common thing . . . to seek points of coincidence among the numerous differences . . . to dream together,” he added.

Below is the Vatican provided text of Pope Francis’ prepared remarks:

Thank you very much for your words of welcome. I thank all of you for your fine artistic performances. This joie de vivre is what distinguishes you. We can see it here here! A shared and celebrated joy that reconciles is the best antidote to all those who want to create dissension, division and conflict. How much that joie de vivre of yours is needed in some parts of our worl

I thank the members of different religious confessions who have joined us, and those who do not belong to any particular religious tradition. Thank you for encouraging one another to live and celebrate today the challenge of peace as the family that we are. You are experiencing that all of us are necessary: with our differences, we are all necessary. Together, you are the beating heart of this people and all of you have a fundamental role to play in one great creative project: to write a new page of history, a page full of hope, peace and reconciliation. Do you want to write this pag

You know that in a team not everyone is the same; they don’t all do the same things or think the same way. Each player has his own gifts. We can see and appreciate this even in this meeting of ours. We come from different traditions and we may even speak different languages, but this has not stopped us from being here together as a grou

So find ways of building social friendship. It is not easy; it always means having to give something up and to negotiate, but if we do it for the sake of helping others, we can have the magnificent experience of setting our differences aside and working together for something greater. If, as a result of our own simple and at times costly efforts, we can find points of agreement amid conflict, build bridges and make peace for the benefit of all, then we will experience the miracle of the culture of encounter” (ibid., 169).

All of these are little things, but they can give you the support you need not to give up in times of trouble but to move forward with hope, to find new ways and outlets for expressing your creativity, and to face problems together in a spirit of solidarity. Try to grow in friendship with those who think differently than you, so that solidarity will increase among you and become the best weapon to change the course of history.