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Pope Asks Young People to Maintain Virginity Even During Engagement

By John-Henry Westen
VATICAN CITY, February 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Today, the Vatican released Pope Benedict XVI's message for  the World Youth Day 2007, which is to be celebrated in all dioceses on Palm Sunday, April 1.  The message focuses on love, and a significant portion is dedicated to preparation for marriage.

Rather than assume young people incapable of avoiding premarital relations, the Holy Father challenges youth to remain pure even during a marriage engagement.  "The period of engagement," he said, "very necessary in order to form a couple, is a time of expectation and preparation that needs to be lived in purity of gesture and words."

Typical of Pope Benedict, he provides youth with the reason behind the instruction.  "It allows you to mature in love, in concern and in attention for each other," he said "it helps you to practise self-control and to develop your respect for each other."  The Pope added, "These are the characteristics of true love that does not place emphasis on seeking its own satisfaction or its own welfare."

In his message, the Pope also confronts the false notion that in dealing with youthful love between young men and young women, the Church is little more than an impediment.  "It is essential that you discover," he told young couples the "project of love" which God has planned for you.  Discover it, he said, "with the help of the Church, free from the common prejudice that says that Christianity with its commandments and prohibitions places obstacles to the joy of love and impedes you from fully enjoying the happiness that a man and woman seek in their reciprocal love."

In a concluding message to all youth, the Pope encouraged them to 'dare to love'.  "My dear young friends, I want to invite you to 'dare to love,'" he said. "Do not desire anything less for your life than a love that is strong and beautiful and that is capable of making the whole of your existence a joyful undertaking of giving yourselves as a gift to God and your brothers and sisters."

See the Pope's full World Youth Day message here:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/youth/documents/hf_ben-x...

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