SW News: The Holy Father has said that Christianity without the Incarnation of Jesus is like a mere ideology. He made this comment while addressing students of the Universidade Catolica Portuguesa in Lisbon on August 3.

He said that the Incarnation of Jesus allows one to marvel “at the beauty that Christ reveals through each brother and sister, each man and woman. Christianity cannot be like a fort with high walls and ramparts erected to keep the world out. In every age, the important task of Christians is to recover the sense of the Incarnation.

Pope Francis reiterated that there can be no sustainable future in a world that has removed God. He encouraged the students to make their faith credible through the choices they make. “Because if faith does not generate convincing lifestyles, it does not leaven the dough of the world. It is not enough for a Christian to be convinced, he must be convincing; our actions are called to reflect the joyous and simultaneously radical beauty of the Gospel”, the pope said.

The pontiff also told the vast gathering of students that they need “to be choreographers of the dance of life”. He said the new choreography should place the human person at the center. The pope made this reference in response to the words of the rector Isabel Capeloa Gil who said that the Catholic University does not exist to preserve itself as an institution. Instead, it needs to respond with courage to the challenges of the present and the future.

He also exhorted the young to take risks. The pontiff told them that the challenges facing the world are enormous at this juncture. He also made a reference to the third world war in pieces.

“But let us take the risk of thinking that we are not in agony, but in childbirth; not at the end, but at the beginning of a great show,” he told the gathering, which also included the President of the Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
The Holy Father warned the youth to stay away from self-preservation, which is a strong temptation. He added that it is a reflex conditioned by fear.
Pope Francis also used the venue to underscore the importance of women and their contribution to the Church which is indispensable. He spoke about the relevance of the contributions made by women in the context of the new chair being established in the Universidade Catolica Portuguesa entitled Economy of Francis and Clare—two prominent saints in the Catholic world.
“The female contribution is indispensable. In fact, the Bible shows how the family economy is largely in the hands of women. She is the true "ruler" of the house, with a wisdom that is not exclusively aimed at profit, but at care, coexistence, the physical and spiritual well-being of all, as well as sharing with the poor and strangers,” the pope said.