Pope Francis' Influence on Youth - Guest Writer Theresa

    A common problem today's churches face is how to get their youth more involved.  When I ask my teenage peers why they aren't very interested/involved with the church more, I often get responses like church is boring or church is for old people. I completely disagree with them.  One reason I disagree is because of how much the church is growing and changing. A lot of this growth and change we owe to Pope Francis.

One of the most influential things Pope Francis has done is to get youth interested in their faith again. Pope Francis has done many things to interest today's youth such as taking selfies, making a twitter, and always making sure to make youth a priority.  He truly is an inspiration to youth all over the world because of his willingness to try and understand young people and how they see the world. One of my favorite Pope Francis quotes is;

"We must restore hope to young people, help the old, be open to the future, spread love. Be poor among the poor. We need to include the excluded and preach peace."

As America prepares for the arrival of Pope Francis, I know there will be thousands of teens and young adults dying to see him (including me) because of the influence he has made on not only just youth but the whole world.

-Theresa