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Pope Francis highlighted the problem of bullying in a recent message to young people.
Francis said bullying is an issue that concerns him.
He made the comments to participants in the online conference #StopcyberbullyingDay.
Francis called on participants to find their own identity but not at the expense of others.
“An issue that concerns me a lot is that each one of you should find your own identity, and without the need to diminish or obscure the identity of others.
“Finding your own identity is a path, it is a path of dialogue, it is a path of reflection, it is an inner path.”
Francis told the conference that bullying is born; it is a phenomenon of self-compensation.
He said the only time to look down on someone else is when helping them to get up.
“Any other way of looking from above downwards is not legitimate.
“And when it occurs in youth groups, in schools, in neighbourhoods, wherever, in these expressions of aggression, bullying, you see the poverty of the identity of the person who attacks, who needs to attack in order to feel that he or she is a person.”
The Pope said there is no chemical remedy for bullying; “The pharmacy does not sell remedies”, he said.
“Each of us has something to give”, said Francis as he encourages young people to begin dialogue.
“The only way is to share, to live together, to dialogue, to listen to the other, to take time to walk together, to take time because it is time that makes the relationship.
“Each one of us has something good to give to the other, each one of us needs to receive something good from the other.”
Francis ended his message to the #StopcyberbullyingDay participants by saying that it is only in declaring war on bullying that peace will be strong.
“Stand up for dialogue; walking together, with the patience of listening to the other.
“The peace will then be strong, and that same strong peace will let you discover your own dignity, your own dignity.
The #StopcyberbullyingDay online conference took place on 21 June and was sponsored by WeZum, the international youth observatory of the Pontifical Scholas Occurrentes Foundation, in collaboration with Time4Child Cooperativa Sociale ONLUS.
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