For Omella, “the secularized world is an exciting world for an apostle and a missionary.”
Also participating in the press conference were Auxiliary Bishop Arturo Ros of Valencia, Spain, who is the director of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference’s Subcommittee for Youth, and Father Raúl Tinajero, a priest of the Diocese of Toledo in Spain, who both reflected on the value that this World Youth Day has for young Catholics.
Speaking to ACI Prensa, Ros remarked that the high turnout is a sign of hope. “We affirm with this that we are alive, we must continue sowing so that there is a harvest, so that there is fruit; we are alive, and not in order to fight but to sow and walk.”
“It’s true that there are some realities that we contemplate with great concern, but for example this servant has joyfully had to administer confirmation on an ongoing basis in my diocese. The groups have not decreased; you see they’re happy, they get excited, they live it with intensity,” he noted.
Ros assured that “this is a sign that we are alive and that there is hope,” and he hopes to achieve a better future, “where reconciliation, forgiveness, fraternity, and the purity or beauty of the Gospel reign, about which Pope Francis continually speaks to us.”
“These data are life, and they are hope, a firm and sure hope that they give us with their presence and their commitments for the future,” he highlighted.