Papal message, speech by Cherie Blair open plenary on young people

Published: 2006-04-28

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With a hard-hitting message from Pope Benedict XVI and some practical advice from mother-of-four Cherie Blair, the Vatican opened a conference dedicated to the challenges facing young people today. The April 28-May 2 plenary session of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences was dedicated to the theme: "Vanishing Youth? Solidarity With Children and Young People in an Age of Turbulence." Blair, the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, was a surprise guest at the opening session and spoke about her experience as a human rights lawyer, a Catholic and a mother. One of her main points was that parents today need to carve time from their busy schedules and invest it in conversations with their children. The adult-child relationship must be based not on "dogmatic assertion" but on love and listening, she said. The church's role, she said, is not just to prescribe a set of rules but to encourage youths to listen to their own consciences and look at social reality with an informed eye.

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