This month, Pope Francis shares his personal story: "When I was 17… I wasn’t thinking at all of being a priest. But one day, I went into the church…and God was there, waiting for me!”

“God still calls young people even today, sometimes in ways we can’t imagine,” he says in The Pope Video for February, produced by his Worldwide Prayer Network in collaboration with Vatican Media and The Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Pope Francis invites us to trust in young people and the Holy Spirit at work in their lives. Let us create spaces in our communities to support their dreams, doubts, and discernment journeys.

“Let us pray that the ecclesial community might welcome the desires and doubts of those young people who feel called to live Jesus’s mission in life: either through the priestly life, or religious life.”

How can we as a Church guide and inspire the next generation to hear God’s call? Share your thoughts or join us in prayer below!

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Pope Francis: “When I was 17 years old, I was a student and was working. I had my own plans. I wasn’t thinking at all of being a priest. But one day, I went into the church…and God was there, waiting for me!

God still calls young people even today, sometimes in ways we can’t imagine. Sometimes we don’t hear because we’re too busy with our own things, our own plans, even with our own things in the Church.

But the Holy Spirit also speaks to us through dreams, and speaks to us through the concerns young people feel in their hearts. If we accompany their journeys, we’ll see how God is doing new things with them. And we’ll be able to welcome His call in ways that better serve the Church and the world today.

Let’s trust young people! And, above all, let’s trust God for He calls everyone!

Let us pray that the ecclesial community might welcome the desires and doubts of those young people who feel called to live Jesus’s mission in life: either through the priestly life, or religious life.”

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By the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (Apostolate of Prayer and the Eucharistic Youth Movement): https://www.popesprayer.va/

Link: https://youtu.be/_jfn1XYDfro?si=Lvt7LWhWunvhVWjI