Urges Youth To Follow Martyr’s Example Of Heroic Chastity VATICAN, July 8, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of a 12 year old girl who was “cruelly stabbed” for denying a man’s sexual advances, Pope John Paul II urged the youth of the world to practice chastity. St. Maria Goretti, chose death rather than consent to impure relations. Maria’s forgiveness of the attacker before her death resulting in his radical conversion.
The Pope warned youth that today’s culture “overestimates physical relations between men and women” and hoped the example “is a reminder that man does not fulfill himself by following his inclinations for pleasure, but by living life itself with love and responsibility.” In his message the Pope stressed: “Do not let the culture of pleasure and enjoyment dull your consciences! Be sharp and attentive sentinels in order to be authentic protagonists of a new humanity!” The Pope prayed for “men and women of our time, especially young people, to rediscover the value of chastity and to live interpersonal relations with reciprocal respect and sincere love.” And in that vein hoped that “this martyr of purity” would be “better known by adolescents and young people.” See the original speech on the matter in Italian: https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2002/july/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20020708_santa-maria-goretti_it.html See the Vatican Information Service coverage from EWTN at: https://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=27905 https://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=27904