Love not a trinket, pope tells young Catholics
AFP
VATICAN CITY- Pope Benedict XVI warned tens of thousands of young Catholics Saturday against treating love as a trinket, in a gathering in the Vatican's Saint Peter's Square.
"You cannot and must not go along with love reduced to a mere trinket, to be consumed without self-respect or respect for others, incapable of chastity and purity," he told members of the Italian Catholic Action organisation.
"Experiencing real love certainly requires sacrifices but without them one can never get there," he said. "But I'm sure you are not afraid of the effort which a binding and true love requires -- at the end of the day it is the only love which gives real joy."
The gathering brought together tens of thousands of youngsters aged from six to 18, along with bishops, priests and teachers from all parts of Italy.
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