Blessed John XXIII speaks to young people
On the night of October 11, 1961, at the end of an historic day marking the opening of the Second Vatican Council, an aging and infirm Pope John XXIII appeared at the window of his study in the Apostolic Palace in answer to the request of nearly half a million young people who had gathered in the Piazza below and made a memorable impromptu speech. Known as the ‘Discorso della Luna’ or ‘Moonlight Speech’, it lives on in people’s hearts and minds to this day.
“Dear sons and daughters, I feel your voices! Mine is just one lone voice, but it sums up the voice of the whole world. And here, in fact, all the world is represented here tonight. It could even be said that even the moon hastens close tonight, that from above, it might watch this spectacle that not even St Peter’s Basilica, over its four centuries of history, has ever been able to witness.”
“…My own person counts for nothing – it’s a brother who speaks to you, become a father by the will of our Lord, but all together, fatherhood and brotherhood and God’s grace, give honor to the impressions of this night, which are always our feelings, which now we express before heaven and earth: faith, hope, love, love of God, love of brother, all aided along the way in the Lord’s holy peace for the work of the good. And so, let us continue to love each other, to look out for each other along the way: to welcome whoever comes close to us, and set aside whatever difficulty it might bring.”