Buenos Aires, Argentina (1987)
Date: 11-12 April 1987
Pontificate: John Paul II
Theme: “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us” (1John 4:16)
Song: Un nuevo sol (A new sunrise)
Life, without love, has no meaning. Without love people cannot understand themselves or provide adequate answers. Love implies interaction and exchange, appreciation and coming together, understanding and comprehension, recognising the other and being recognised by the other. Without love we do not know who we are, we cannot hope, we cannot bear witness. While we are passing through the complex and intense period of our youth, we must pause and reflect on the power of love in order to lay foundations for our future. This is the stage in our lives when we think about the choices that we must make. Here the pope spoke of vocation. He called each young person to become “a new kind of human being” who can see the pitfalls of the ephemeral and the emptiness it leaves in the soul. He invited everyone to “grow in humanity and to give absolute priority to the values of the spirit, (…) and to recognise and accept more and more the presence of God in your lives, the presence of God who is Love”. Love is a constant presence for every Christian. It is also in our memories and in our aspirations. It is the infinity we are called to experience in our finiteness.
All of the Holy Father’s speeches in Buenos Aires (only Italian and Spanish available): https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/travels/1987/travels/documents/trav_uruguay-cile-argentina.html
Summary based on the data sheet published by frontierarieti.com, organ of the Diocese of Rieti.