The lack of ideals is what leads to emptiness and boredom. That is why, dear young people, I encourage you not to postpone life's fundamental decisio… - Giovanni Battista Re

(Visitng the Shrine of the Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei) The world expects much from the new pope, both in terms of a religious revival and because the world is troubled by a very serious problem, that of war in many countries. The war between Ukraine and the Russian Federation is having consequences throughout Europe. And then there is Gaza, the land where Christ was born and where the land itself cries out for peace, but peace is not there. We are going through a difficult time for humanity. And we hope that there will now be a recovery.

Interviewer: What was Wojtyla's role in the defeat of communism?

I hope that when I return to Rome this evening, I will find white smoke. I am particularly pleased to be here at the beginning of the Conclave so that the Holy Spirit may blow strongly and the Pope that today's Church and today's world need may be elected. [The new pope] must first of all seek to strengthen faith in God in our world characterised by technological progress but, spiritually speaking, we have noticed a certain ‘forgetting of God’. There is a need for a reawakening.