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Pope Francis’ latest account of his long life – laconically titled Life – tells the story through history, matching 14 biographical scenes to world events in his lifetime. It’s a conceit that emphasises his longevity: most strikingly, no future pontiff will share his memory of the outbreak of the Second World War.

Much as he opposes the idea of a “museum” Church, the Pope himself is a fascinating repository of influences and ideas from another age. Popes are usually old, having got that way by living life, their character more tangible for being imprinted with their experiences. To complain (or sneer) that the successor to St Peter is invariably a pensioner is to miss the real problem with the Church’s gerontocracy. It’s not that younger people don’t have a senior role – it’s that the junior roles are often no role at all.

While this has something to do with the catch-all peril of clericalism, self-consciously with-it assertions about young Catholics (that we’re all desperately conservative, that we’re all desperately alienated by the Church’s conservatism) betray the same neglect. These “young Catholics” are treated as evidence for an argument, not people with a place.

Too many occasions for participation have been dessicated of meaning and agency. As Wyatt Olivas writes in this edition of Inspire, the persistent challenge for many enthusiastic people growing up in the Church is being told “no” – by people who presumably are eager to see the young at Mass but have narrow ideas about what they should do in other areas.

There’s no shortage of stuff to do. The sacraments, schooling, the discernment of vocations – which Emmanuel Donkor explores in our cover story – are built around the young, while people like the Salesians and Jesuits make them their special concern. But they are too often treated as a special annexe, when they are as fully a part of the Church as the Pope. We can recognise the seniority of his place without accepting any inferiority for ours.

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