Addressing 80,000 young people gathered at the Stade de France in Paris, Pope Leo cited Blessed Marcel Callo, a martyred French jocist leader, as an example of those who choose the path of virtue and holiness.
“Those who live with God strive for what is best,” Pope Leo said. “They are constantly growing.”
He continued:
They seek virtue, namely that inner strength which makes us good and true. Dear friends, the dynamism that drives Christian life has a specific name: the path of holiness. It is the path that the Lord opens before each of us, accompanying us every step of the way.
And how many sons and daughters of this beloved land of France have allowed themselves to be led along this path! Consider, for example, Blessed Marcel Callo, a young Frenchman, a boy scout and worker, who in the darkness of the concentration camp never ceased to strive toward the good, maintaining his interior freedom.
Born in 1921, Marcel was a YCW leader from Rennes.
When France was occupied during World War II, he was sent to Germany as part of a Nazi forced labour program.
“I am going there not as a worker but as a missionary,” he told his fiancée, Marguerite Derniaux.
In Germany, Marcel made it his mission to reach out to his fellow young workers, organising jocist groups as well as prayer and Eucharist services.
On 19 March 1944, he was arrested for activities against the Third Reich, and was sent to the Gotha concentration camp where he died exactly one year later.
Pope John Paul II beatified him on 4 October 1987.
Pope Leo at the Stade de France
In his address to the young people at the Stade de France, Pope Leo told them that the source of “true freedom” is “a living relationship with Jesus.”
“The Lord’s presence brings wisdom to our plans and beauty to the desires we hold in our hearts,” he continued.
“God shines through our souls like a light, inviting us to a constant renewal,” the pope said, adding that Christ is “calling us to a conversion that gives full meaning to our lives, making us protagonists of a story that moves from confusion to the pursuit of truth, and from indifference to a commitment to justice.”
READ MORE
Apostolic Journey to France: Prayer Vigil with Young People at the “Stade de France” (Vatican.va)
Pope encourages French youth to seek holiness during visually rich stadium vigil (OSV News)
Marcel Callo (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)
