Cardinal Mykola Bychok addressed the opening plenary of the Australian Catholic Youth Festival in Melbourne on 30 November.
This is the text of his address:
Dear young friends in Christ,
Brothers and sisters—pilgrims of hope!
It is a joy and a deep privilege to stand here with you at the opening of the Australian Catholic Youth Festival.
Today you gather from every corner of this vast country—full of energy, full of questions, full of dreams, and full of hope. And from the very beginning I want you to hear this clearly: You are welcome here. Not as strangers or guests, but as sons and daughters of God, as young disciples, as pilgrims walking together toward Christ.
Our theme today reminds us that to be a pilgrim is to keep moving forward—sometimes with confidence, sometimes with uncertainty, but always with hope. And nothing strengthens a pilgrim more deeply than prayer.
I would like to share something from my own life. I grew up in Ukraine at a time when the Catholic faith was persecuted and forced underground by the evil communist Soviet Union.
Churches were closed, priests were watched, and public expressions of faith could bring serious consequences.
Prayer in those days was hidden—whispered behind closed doors, guarded like a precious treasure that no one could steal. I remember watching my parents praying quietly—just simple, trusting faith. And even as a small child I understood that prayer has a power the world cannot take away.
Later, as I grew older and entered school, a different kind of persecution came. I was often bullied because I was a person of faith.
Some laughed, some mocked, and some teachers were too frightened to acknowledge their own faith in Christ. It was painful.
But in those moments, I discovered something that has stayed with me my entire life: when a young person kneels to pray, even when the heart is wounded or confused, he is not alone.
She is not alone. I found strength in praying the Holy Rosary. I found courage in participating in the Divine Liturgy. Prayer became, for me, like oxygen—quiet, invisible, but necessary for life.
My dear young people, the world may try to silence your faith, but it can never silence your prayer.
You will meet people who tell you that faith is old-fashioned, unnecessary, or even foolish.
You may encounter voices—online, at school, at university, in the workplace—that tell you to keep your beliefs hidden, that your convictions are inconvenient, or that speaking about God is somehow unwelcome.
Some of you may face pressure from friends who do not understand why you pray, why you go to church, or why you hold on to values that the world often pushes aside. You may feel at times that your faith makes you different, or that it sets you apart.
But listen carefully: being different in Christ is not a burden; it is a blessing.
Because when you pray—especially when it is difficult—you allow God to speak into the deepest part of your heart.
Prayer gives you a strength that doesn’t depend on popularity. It gives you a courage that cannot be taken away by criticism.
It roots you in a truth that is stronger than the loudest voices around you. Prayer transforms fear into courage, loneliness into friendship with Christ, confusion into clarity, and despair into hope.
It reminds you that you belong not to a passing culture, but to the everlasting Kingdom of God.
And in those moments when you feel small, uncertain, or overwhelmed—when it feels like the world is trying to drown out your faith—remember this: even the smallest whispered prayer reaches the ear of God.
No government can ban it, no bully can break it, no social pressure can erase it. Your prayer is your strength. Your prayer is your freedom. Your prayer is your hope.
If we want to learn how to pray with faith and perseverance, especially in times of struggle, we need only look to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Mary teaches us that prayer is not merely words we recite; it is a way of living in trust and openness to God.
When the angel came to her with extraordinary news, Mary listened and prayed. When she stood at the foot of the Cross, she prayed in silence with a heart full of sorrow.
When the disciples trembled in the upper room after the Resurrection, Mary prayed with them, strengthening them with her quiet presence. She is the woman of prayer, the Mother of hope, and she is our powerful intercessor.
I have seen, in my own life and in the lives of countless others, how her prayers—especially through the Rosary—can heal wounds, protect families, soften hardened hearts, and open new paths where none seemed possible.
My friends, today the Church looks at you and sees hope. Not a vague feeling, but hope rooted in Jesus Christ, who conquered sin and death.
When you pray, when you gather like this, when you lift your hearts to God, you become signs of a Church that is alive and young.
You are welcome here—not because you are perfect or because you have all the answers—but because God delights in you and the Church needs you. Your questions matter. Your desire for meaning matters.
Your faith, even when small, matters. And your willingness to pray is what will help you grow into true disciples and witnesses.
Prayer is powerful when done alone, but when we pray together, something extraordinary happens. The Holy Spirit moves among us. Hearts open. Grace flows.
And tonight, I want to share with you a very real sign of that hope. In my hand I am holding a rosary made by Ukrainian prisoners of war during their rehabilitation.
It is a powerful symbol. These young men and women—your peers in age—have endured suffering that most of us cannot imagine. Yet in their darkest moments, they turned to God through prayer.
Their hands, which once defended their homeland, now shape beads of hope. And every bead whispers the same plea that rises from countless hearts across the world: “Lord, give us peace.”
As we begin this festival, I ask you: pray for peace. Pray for Ukraine.
Pray for every nation wounded by war—places where children cry, where families are broken, where hope is tested. Pray for all who suffer violence, hatred, or injustice. When we pray the Rosary tonight, let our voices join with theirs, lifting up to God the longing for a world healed and renewed.
And so, as we come together as thousands of young hearts, I invite you now to unite in the same prayer that sustained generations before us, the prayer that strengthened persecuted believers, the prayer that shaped my own journey of faith: the Holy Rosary.
Let us entrust this festival, our lives, our dreams, our struggles, our families, and our world to Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church. Let her lead us closer to Christ, so that wherever our pilgrimage takes us—school, university, work, relationships, future vocations—we will walk with hope.
My dear young pilgrims of hope, I now invite you to join me in prayer. Together, as one family in Christ, let us pray one decade of the Holy Rosary, asking Mary to guide us and intercede for us.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…
ENDS.