BY Liz Leydon | September 17 | 
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Pope says pupils are well on the way to becoming saints
Pope Benedict XVI told school pupils from throughout the UK, including Scotland, that they are ‘are well on the way to becoming saints’ if they choose God’s path.
“I hope that among those of you listening to me today there are some of the future saints of the twenty-first century,” His Holiness told the pupils gathered for the Big Assembly in Twickenham this morning. “What God wants most of all for each one of you is that you should become holy.”
The Holy Father inaugurated the John Paul II Sports Foundation during the Assembly but also spoke on the danger of culture of celebrity, in entertainment and sport, overshadowing true the happiness ‘to be found in God.’
“We live in a celebrity culture, and young people are often encouraged to model themselves on figures from the world of sport or entertainment. My question for you is this: what are the qualities you see in others that you would most like to have yourselves? What kind of person would you really like to be?
Rather than pursue wealth and fame, he advised young Catholics to look to God.
“Happiness is something we all want, but one of the great tragedies in this world is that so many people never find it, because they look for it in the wrong places. The key to it is very simple – true happiness is to be found in God.”
During the joyful gathering, which was also watched by thousands of students online, pupils presented gifts to the Pope. One highlight was a live video feed from student from St John Vianney school in Gambia, twinned with Holy Cross school in England.
The Holy Father also said he hoped to see many of the students present at World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid.
To read the Pope’s address in full visit: http://www.thepapalvisit.org.uk/The-Visit-Live/Speeches/Speeches-17-September/Pope-Benedict-s-address-to-pupils
Pic: CNS
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