In A New Unseen Video, Pope Francis Taught Young People To Listen To Others Before He Was Hospitalized
Francis said that people never truly listen as “halfway through an explanation, they’ll answer, and that doesn’t help peace. Listen.Listen a lot.”
In a newly surfaced video, Pope Francis was seen delivering a powerful and heartfelt message to young people one month before he was hospitalized in January, telling them about the importance of truly listening when others are speaking.
The previously unseen video was released on Sunday, April 27, by the Italian weekly magazine Oggi, just a day after 250,000 people lined up for hours at St. Peter’s Square to pay their final respects to Francis at his funeral.
Francis died, age 88, on Easter Monday on April 21, at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta after a prolonged illness.
The video, recorded in January 2025, a month before he was hospitalized for double pneumonia, shows him speaking to young people at a "Listening Workshop", an initiative started in Italy to bring young people and adults together to talk and learn the value of listening to one another, according to the Vatican News.
"When someone speaks to you, wait for them to finish so you can really understand, and then, if you feel like it, respond. But the important thing is to listen,” Francis said in the video.
Francis said that people never truly listen as “halfway through an explanation, they’ll answer, and that doesn’t help peace. Listen.Listen a lot.”
He also told the young people to listen to their grandparents as they have so much to teach them.
In his apostolic exhortation, “Christus Vivit”, he called for the creation of more space for young people’s voices within the Church and society.
Meanwhile, Francis had called on young people to “make their voices heard,” urging them not only to speak up but to do so boldly and authentically.
He famously encouraged young people to “make a mess” (“¡Hagan lío!”), meaning they should challenge the Church and society with their energy, questions and new ideas, the Vatican News reported.
He also encouraged the Church to move forward together with young people, through “listening, dialogue, and the constant discernment of the Lord’s will,” according to the Vatican News.
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