Controversy before World Youth Days 

According to the Spanish bishop, the World Youth Day in Lisbon (SDM), which will last from Tuesday to Sunday, is an important evangelistic impulse.

“They benefit greatly from singing, dancing, adoring, going to confession, and participating in the Eucharist. They have a good time precisely because they are Christians,” added Fernández, according to whom SDMs are eventually called – whether to marriage, priesthood, or consecrated life. “Jesus Christ still calls young people and counts on them in building the church and renewing the world.”

The vast majority of participants seem to feel the same way. A survey by the Spanish company GAD3 shows that more than 95% of young people are convinced that SDM helps to spread faith in Jesus Christ, strengthen commitment, and make the message of the church sound around the world.

A weakened church

At first glance, even the host country itself is religiously vital.

“Adults and children alike still take part in traditional festivities and processions, where they carry flower-decorated life-size statues of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and Saint Anthony of Lisbon (better known as Anthony of Padua). Priests and bishops are still invited to bless fishing boats and new bridges, the roads to Fatima are often crowded with pilgrims,” ​​National Catholic Reporter Brian Faga and Christopher White describe the local religious color.

Before the start of World Youth Day, a statue of Our Lady of Fatima was brought to Lisbon. 

However, a deeper analysis shows that the Catholic Church in Portugal is weakened like elsewhere in the West. Although more than 80 percent of the population subscribes to it, less than 20 percent come to Sunday services.

“The biggest challenge is social indifference. Although Catholicism maintains its predominance, it is losing its influence on the values ​​present in society,” priest Hélio Nuno Soares from the Diocese of Angra tells the National Catholic Reporter.

This is also evidenced by the fact that, despite the bishops’ reservations, in recent years the Portuguese Parliament has expanded the possibilities of abortions, approved registered partnerships, and decriminalized euthanasia just two months ago.

The image of the Catholic Church was also recently damaged by the findings of an independent commission, according to which priests abused more than 4,800 children since 1950. And this number is not supposed to be final either.     

Pope Francis, who will arrive at SDM on Wednesday, will also try to mitigate the consequences, and as part of his program, he should also meet with victims of abuse.

Barron vs. Aguiar

At a time when church leaders in Portugal feel on the defensive, expectations for the arrival of the Pope and hundreds of thousands of young Catholics from around the world are naturally high. They could represent the vital impulse of a tired church.

In this context, the controversy recently sparked by the Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon, Américo Aguiar, who is the main organizer of this year’s SDM, is interesting.

“We don’t want to convert young people to faith in Christ or the Catholic Church or anything like that,” said the 49-year-old bishop, whose name appeared on the list of new cardinals a few days later, in an interview with RCP Notícias television in early July.   

Aguiar is convinced that young Catholics should be ready to bear witness to their faith, but at the same time should respect the diversity of others.

He also emphasized that it is important for everyone to understand that differences are wealth and the world will objectively be better if this certainty penetrates the hearts of all young people. 

Young people give each other a cross, one of the symbols of World Youth Day. 

It was that last comment that troubled Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester. “Aguiar thereby suggested that fundamental differences in religious issues are good, even that God wants it that way. Many Catholics around the world were – to put it mildly – ​​confused by the considerations of the cardinal designate,” Barron responded.

And although Aguiar later clarified that his words were taken out of context, while his intention was only to reject aggressive proselytizing (the so-called proselytism was repeatedly criticized by Pope Francis), Barron found this defense insufficient.

While he admits that most people might not see anything controversial about Aguirre’s words, he sees it differently:

“Behind many talks about tolerance, acceptance, and non-judgment about religion, there is a deep conviction that religious truth is inaccessible to us and that it doesn’t even matter what a person believes in, as long as he adheres to certain ethical principles. If someone is a decent person, who cares if they are a Christian, Buddhist, Jew, Muslim, or non-believer? And if this is so, why should we not see the diversity of religions as a positive thing, as another manifestation of the diversity that is so appealing to contemporary culture? And given this epistemological indifference, shouldn’t any attempt at ‘conversion’ be anything other than arrogant aggression?’

The well-known apologist emphasizes that the Catholic Church is precisely convinced that being a nice person is not enough, religious truth is attainable (which is why it pays so much attention to doctrinal accuracy) and evangelization is its key mission.”Neither St. Paul of the first century nor St. Paul VI. In the 20th century, they did not think for a moment that evangelism equaled imperialism or that religious diversity was an end in itself. On the contrary, both wanted the whole world to come under the rule of Jesus Christ. This is precisely why every institution, every activity, every program of the church is ultimately aimed at proclaiming Jesus,” wrote Barron, according to whom the same applies to World Youth Days.

“The great Polish Pope was pleased that so many young people from all over the world come to these meetings, in all their diversity, but if you told him that the real purpose of the event is to celebrate diversity, to make everyone feel good about who they are and that you are not interested in converting anyone to Christ, he would pierce you with a look that would stop a train,” thinks Barron, who ended his reaction with a clear message:

“I will have five presentations on World Youth Day and I would like to assure Bishop Aguiar that each one of them will be focused on evangelization.”