Cardinal Vincent Nichols on Wednesday paid tribute to the inspirational work of young social activists at an awards ceremony in London.
The Cardinal told young people shortlisted for the inaugural Celebrating Young People Awards, organised by the charity Million Minutes and supported by Baroness (Sheila) Hollins, that they should look to Pope Francis as a role model.
At the event at the Prince Charles Cinema in London's Leicester Square he told hundreds of nominees, who had been shortlisted for activities including running an eco-committee at their Catholic school and promoting interfaith relations, “never to let go of your generosity, your compassion and your capacity for forgiveness”.
He was judge for and presented the Pope Francis Award, the overall youth award, to Ryan O’Neill, a 21-year-old psychiatric nursing student who volunteers at his former school as a support assistant.
The Cardinal said that Mr O’Neill exemplified the same good virtues as Pope Francis, and urged the young people to use Pope Francis as a role model.
His virtues, he said, included: “[Treating] reality as more important than ideas, being leaders of integrity and courage, and being missionary disciples of Jesus.”
There were six other categories of awards, including the St Josephine Bakhita Award celebrating human dignity; the Joseph Cardijn Award for protecting the dignity of workers and the Dorothy Day Award for fostering community and participation.
For a full list of awards and recipients click here.
Above: Ryan O’Neill with Cardinal Vincent Nichols and Francis Campbell, Vice-Chancellor of St Mary's University, Twickenham.
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