This week, nearly two million people attended a mass celebrated by Pope Francis in Portugal on the occasion of World Youth Day. A couple of days before that, 200,000 people attended a religious celebration at Fatima, the site of an appearance in 1917 to three children of the Virgin Mary. It’s also been a site of miraculous cures ever since. That’s some pulling power.

The striking thing about these giant congregations is that they were overwhelmingly young people. Francis can thank the greatest of the modern popes, John Paul II, who founded WYD in the mid-1980s.

WYD is a key experience for millions of young people and typically leads to spikes in religious vocations and spiritual life generally. However, even this astounding good moment is mired in the strangest contemporary confusion.

Portuguese bishop Americo Aguiar, who has just been elevated to the rank of cardinal by the Pope, assured the world: “We don’t want to convert the young people to Christ or the Catholic Church or anything like that.”

Say what? If a bishop doesn’t want to convert people to Christ, surely he’s in the wrong line of work. Why not become a game show host or a diversity officer at a university? Good callings but, unlike bishoping, they don’t require you to preach Christ.

Bishop Aguiar said the main purpose of WYD was to celebrate diversity so all young people could walk happily together. This is almost literally insane. Of course, diversity’s a good thing. But it’s not the only thing or the main thing. It would be like a cancer hospital declaring it was no longer interested in actually treating cancer but would instead focus on celebrating the wide range of people who came along.

Jesus told us that in the last days before He returns to restore righteousness that much of the church will compromise with the world, that there would be apostasy, a great falling away, and even worse.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13

Taken from an article in The Weekend Australian by Greg Sheridan – Pope’s brand of liberalism is ‘entombed’ in the ’60s