Pinay at World Youth Day asks Pope about achieving success

Representing Asia, a 26-year-old Filipina got the rare privilege of asking a question to Pope Benedict XVI in the World Youth Day celebrations in Spain, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) reported Sunday. Kritzia Santos, member of the lay movement Regnum Christi, joined four other delegates who each represented a continent in a question-and-answer segment. “It is my desire to reach high goals, but success and big dreams are always linked to amassing wealth and high positions," Santos told the Pope, according to a post on the CBCP website. “How can I be faithful to my faith without distancing myself from society?" the CBCP article quoted Santos further as saying. Her question is a “unique concern of modern young people, specifically about balancing the desire for success with the call to be a Christian," the CBCP said. “In the Gospel, Jesus gives us an answer… Deep in our hearts, we yearn for what is grand and beautiful in life, but ground them in Jesus," the Pope reportedly responded. ‘Great truth of life’ The Pope made a similar statement Saturday in a speech posted on the official website of the 26th World Youth Day. “How can a young person be true to the faith and yet continue to aspire to high ideals in today’s society? In the Gospel we have just heard, Jesus gives us an answer to this urgent question: ‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love,’" the Pope said. “Yes, dear friends, God loves us. This is the great truth of our life; it is what makes everything else meaningful. We are not the product of blind chance or absurdity; instead our life originates as part of a loving plan of God," he added. The Pope also advised the youth to keep their faith even as “the dominant culture of relativism all around us has given up on the search for truth." “If you abide in the love of Christ, rooted in the faith, you will encounter, even amid setbacks and suffering, the source of true happiness and joy. Faith does not run counter to your highest ideals; on the contrary, it elevates and perfects those ideals," he said. Pinoy-style World Youth Day For the Philippine version of the World Youth Day, 11,000 delegates flocked to the Ateneo de Manila University on Saturday amid heavy rain. The delegates waited until past 3 a.m. Sunday to view the live telecast of the Pope’s message, GMA News TV’s Balitanghali reported. One of the President’s sisters, Viel Aquino-Dee, joined the vigil and said she was pleased with the number of delegates who joined the activity. “Kung tutuusin, malaking sakripisyo ‘yung magdamagan," Dee said in an interview aired on Balitanghali. “At parang nakikita ko naman sa kanilang dedikasyon na makiisa sa mga pinaplano ng ating Simbahan, at siguro lahat tayo puwedeng magtulung-tulungan para nga mapaunlad hindi lang ang ating bayan, pero sana kapayapaan sa buong mundo," she added. — with Paterno Esmaquel II/LBG, GMA News