There is the tendency to place ourselves and our ambitions at the center of our lives. This is very human, but it is not Christian.

When we do not adore God, we adore something else. Money and power are false idols which often take the place of God.

We need to be creative with young people. If they have no opportunities, they will get into drugs and be vulnerable to suicide.

Above all I ask leaders and legislators and the entire international community above all to confront the reality of those who have been displaced by force, with effective projects and new approaches in order to protect their dignity, to improve the quality of their life and to face the challenges that are emerging from modern forms of persecution, oppression and slavery.

In your school you take part in various activities that habituate you not to shut yourselves in on yourselves or in your small world, but to be open to others, especially to the poorest and neediest, to work to improve the world in which we live. Be men and women with others and for others, real champions in the service of others. To be magnanimous with interior liberty and a spirit of service, spiritual formation is necessary. Dear children, dear youths, love Jesus Christ ever more!

I join the March for Life in Washington with my prayers. May God help us respect all life, especially the most vulnerable.

The youth say stupid things and they say good things, as we do, as everyone does. But hear them, speak with them, because we must learn from them and they must learn from me, from us.