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MANILA, Jan. 15, 2012—The Church urges the lay faithful to remember and pray for the victims of child labor, pornography, pedophile and out of school youth in today’s feast of the Sto. Niño. More than just bringing images of Sto. Nino in procession, offering to it flowers and clothing it arbitrarily, people should also try to manifest their devotion to the Holy Child Jesus by giving attention to the children who are suffering from different realities of abuse, injustice and oppression. Fr. Conegundo Garganta of the Episcopal Commission on Youth said Jesus’ life as a child reminds the faithful “of the powerlessness of a child and brings to mind the humility of God when he allowed himself to be at the care of man.” Garganta said children who are physically challenged, working at an early age, being abused by adults and were deprived of their right to a decent life should be remembered by those who are fortunate not to have experienced what they did. “We should not only rememb...

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE WORLD DAY OF PEACE 1 JANUARY 2012 EDUCATING YOUNG PEOPLE IN JUSTICE AND PEACE 1. The beginning of a new year, God’s gift to humanity, prompts me to extend to all, with great confidence and affection, my heartfelt good wishes that this time now before us may be marked concretely by justice and peace. With what attitude should we look to the New Year? We find a very beautiful image in Psalm 130. The Psalmist says that people of faith wait for the Lord “more than those who watch for the morning” (v. 6); they wait for him with firm hope because they know that he will bring light, mercy, salvation. This waiting was born of the experience of the Chosen People, who realized that God taught them to look at the world in its truth and not to be overwhelmed by tribulation. I invite you to look to 2012 with this attitude of confident trust. It is true that the year now ending has been marked by a rising sense of frustrat...