Pope invites Argentinians to dare to dream on 200th anniversary
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a letter to the President of the Argentinian Episcopal Conference on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the country’s independence. In the letter he invites people in his homeland to “dare to dream”.
Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s report
On the 9th of July 1816 Argentina declared independence from its then ruler Spain. To mark this major event in the country’s history Pope Francis has sent a letter to the President of the Argentinian Episcopal Conference, José María Arancedo, in which he addresses those in authority and the Argentinian people on the occasion of his homeland’s bicentennial celebrations.
In the letter the Pope says he desires “that this celebration will make us stronger in the path taken by our ancestors two hundred years ago,” and invites the people of the country “not to sell the Motherland” and to resist “all forms of colonisation”.
In particular he draws attention to those who suffer the most in Argentinian society, such as the sick, those living in poverty, prisoners, those who are lonely, those who have no work, victims of trafficking, child victims of abuse and young people who are suffering from the scourge of drugs.
The Holy Father also looks to the elderly and to young Argentinians to chart the path forward for the country saying, “I would like to ask the elderly, who have a good memory of history, to look past this throwaway culture that has been forced upon us and dare to dream. We need their dreams, they are a fount of inspiration.”
He goes on to say, “I ask young people not to live a retired life in a bureaucratic quietism they are encouraged into by many opportunities that lack excitement and heroism”.
The Pope concludes by saying that, “only if our elderly dare to dream and our young imagine great things, can the Homeland be free. We need elderly people who dream and motivate young people, who in turn run forth armed with the creativity of imagination, inspired by these very dreams.”