VATICAN (CNS): Celebrating Passion Sunday Mass on March 25 with thousands of young people, Pope Francis urged them to continue singing and shouting hosanna in the world, proclaiming the lordship of Jesus and following his example of outreach to the poor and suffering.
 
The crowd that shouted hosanna as Jesus entered Jerusalem included all those for whom Jesus was a source of joy, those he healed and forgave, and those he welcomed after they had been excluded from society, the pope said in his homily.
 

VATICAN (CNS): Several young people attending a Vatican-sponsored seminar on the upcoming Synod of Bishops urged the Vatican and the bishops themselves to be opening to listening to young people talk and ask questions about love, sex and sexuality.
 
Twenty people under the age of 35, along with 70 theologians, priests and academics met from September 11 to 15 as part of the preparatory process for the 2018 Synod of Bishops on “young people, faith and vocational discernment.”
 

VATICAN (SE): A preparatory document for the next Synod of World Bishops scheduled to be held in 2018 on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment was released by the Holy See on January 13 at a media conference at the Vatican.

The document comes in three parts, one addressing young people in the world today, one on discernment of faith and vocation, and the third on pastoral involvement and pastoral care of the young.

VATICAN (CWNews.com): In its Message to the People of God, the Synod of Bishops has issued a challenge to Catholic people to be part of the new evangelisation.

A summary of its final message, which was approved by the synod on October 24, says what new evangelisation is not. “It is not a question of finding new strategies as if the gospel was to be spread like a market product,” it says.