Following his recent audience with Pope Leo XIV, Brother Matthew, prior of the Taizé Community, reflects on the challenges facing young people in a world filled with indifference and war.
By Svitlana Dukhovych Pope Leo XIV met with the prior of the Taizé Community, Brother Matthew, on Saturday, March 21, for a private audience. In the following interview with Vatican News, Brother Matthew expressed his appreciation for the Pope’s support for the ecumenical mission of Taizé and its work with young people. Q: Brother Matthew, on Saturday you met with Pope Leo. What can you tell us about the audience? First of all, it was my second audience with the Holy Father. I had already met him in July of last year. It has historically always been a tradition that the Prior of Taizé comes to Rome in March, and I asked if it would be possible to meet with him again. They said yes right away, which was a great joy. He was very confirming toward the vocation of our community. We are an ecumenical community, with brothers from different Christian denominations. This sign of unity is very important for us. But also, this attention to the ministry of the Bishop of Rome as a servant of unity within the people of God. He was very confirming in that and very thankful. The two main topics we spoke about were unity and peace, which have been central themes for him from the outset. We discussed the suffering in regions affected by war, including Ukraine and the Middle East. We shared our concerns and reflected on what signs of solidarity we can offer, and how to open paths for dialogue, because we see that weapons do not produce the result that is peace. We explored ways to foster true paths toward peace. We also talked about unity among Christians, as well as unity within the Catholic Church, both very important topics. I could see how much the Holy Father cares about the situation of young people today. After the pandemic, young people often live in great isolation and sometimes feel they don’t need contact with others. At Taizé, we welcome a wide variety of young people with different experiences. Many come from situations of isolation, but through the experience that we offer, they rediscover the importance of life with others, life in community. The impression I always get when I meet Pope Leo is that he has a remarkable capacity to listen. He gives the time you need and never hurries, which is very moving. I hope he manages, because his days are very long. There is a great generosity of spirit and a real desire to journey together with those who come to visit him, which I deeply felt and am very grateful for. In today’s world, we sometimes feel that people in positions of responsibility or politicians just shout at each other. How can we learn to listen again? Listening does not mean we must agree on everything, but it creates a space where we might take steps together we never expected before. Listening to others and respecting them, even when we differ, is a true sign for the world today. Q: As you said, the vocation of your community is to work on unity among Christians and also within the human family. Is it harder for you, as a community, to work on this goal in this particular period of history? I think it's always important for me to remember that the community was born out of a time of war. Brother Roger, our founder, left neutral Switzerland during the Second World War and came to live in the village of Taizé, near what they called the demarcation line in France. France was split into a northern part, which was occupied by the Nazis, and the southern part, which was supposedly free. He was there alone for two years to begin with, and then he returned to Switzerland because it had become too dangerous. He came back after the war with the first brothers. This story of our foundation speaks to me a lot today, and I see very much the call for our brothers to be present not only in Taizé, where we welcome large numbers of young people, but also at the points of fracture in the human family. For me, the biggest danger in the West today is that we fall into a spirit of indifference. We might say these wars are far away and don't really concern us, when in fact what is happening in Ukraine and also in the Middle East can have a direct consequence upon us—not simply because petrol is getting more expensive, but because it concerns our freedom to exist as nations and our freedom to believe in the faith that has been given to us. These things are fundamental. If we fall into indifference, then very quickly these situations will also weigh on our shoulders. So, how can we remember those who are struggling for freedom, those who are struggling for the right to exist in different countries? I think that can only be done by seeking concrete signs of solidarity—by visiting, by maintaining contact in one way or another. That is what I would say to those who have friends in Ukraine or in the Middle East: keep in touch with your friends. Don’t forget them. Now, is it a bigger challenge than before? I don’t know. There have always been challenges, but there is a challenge, as I said, not to become indifferent and not to become discouraged. When I go to Ukraine, I see the incredible resilience of people who don’t let themselves be discouraged, even though discouragement is present for some. We mustn't hide the incredible suffering that is there, but there is resilience. When I was in Zaporizhzhia for Christmas, I saw that. I saw people who live from their faith. I spoke about experiencing, for the first time, Christmas where “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness was not able to overcome it.” We need the testimony of the people living in these situations. We need to hear their stories. We need to visit the cemeteries to understand really what is going on. Q: What do you think about indifference? Can a Christian be indifferent? No, I understand very well what you mean. A Christian can be indifferent, because a Christian is human. But how can we return again and again to the Gospel? Jesus asks us to love our neighbor as ourselves. That means I cannot fall into indifference when faced with what is happening to my neighbor. He says, “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers or sisters, you do to me.” There is a direct link between our attention to those who are suffering and our attention to Christ. I think, too, that Pope Leo expressed this very clearly in the Dilexi te: the poor cannot be separated from Christ. That poverty we witness now, in situations of war, presents an imperative. Of course, not everyone can go to Ukraine or the Middle East to visit. That’s clear. But what everyone can do is pray. And it is that prayer which keeps us awake, which means we are not forgetting these situations, and which can perhaps inspire intuitions within us— ways to help others, perhaps refugees in our countries, or people who are vulnerable because they have had to leave their homes. That is possible for everyone. Everyone can pray. Q: How do you personally manage the situation when you see a lot of suffering? I imagine indifference sometimes comes when you see so much suffering around you, and your brain tells you that you can’t do anything, so you just try to separate yourself from these events. You know, in English we speak about compassion fatigue, where we reach a point where we see so many serious situations that we just switch off. It’s a danger for all of us. I think we also have to accept that everybody has a different capacity. Not everyone can face such suffering, and that doesn’t mean they are bad people. It doesn’t mean they are indifferent. We all have our limitations. I see that with my brothers as well. For some of them, they get so wrapped up in the suffering that they are no longer free. That is very difficult, and it needs accompaniment. Each of us needs to understand what we can bear. But I think, for all of us, there is always the possibility to remember the situation in prayer. Q: You said that you and the Pope also spoke about young people, who feel lonely despite being connected through social networks. But still, a lot of them come to Taizé. What do you think they find there? It’s something quite amazing, because those who come to Taizé come with a desire for community, even if they’ve never really experienced that before. In that way, we are blessed in many ways. Many come from situations of isolation, and in the first days of their stay, it’s not simple to enter into contact with others. But when they understand it’s a safe environment, something often opens up within them. The prayer three times a day also carries them. When we ask young people at the end of the week what has touched them most, a large majority speak about the silence during prayer. That’s incredible today, when all the time there’s input—we’re constantly bombarded with notifications and information—yet there’s a desire for silence. I think it’s a deep, innate longing in every person. It’s a thirst. We’re created in the image of God, and there is this deep desire to be in the presence of God. Silence enables that, even if many young people don’t have the vocabulary to express it in words. They sense intuitively that they are in the presence of someone greater than themselves. Our task is to listen to them and help them put words to what they’re experiencing. Many come from non-Church backgrounds, and there hasn’t been the same transmission of faith that used to happen in families in the past. Yet there is a very authentic longing there. In Taizé, I often say to myself that we don’t really do a lot. We open the doors, we sing a little, and then the rest doesn’t depend on us. Young people, among themselves, discover that they have common desires and longings, and that they are searching in similar directions. They also discover that they can walk together with others who don’t necessarily hold the same opinions as them, which is a great challenge in today’s world. We offer a space. We’re not there to control what everybody thinks, does, or says. There’s a risk in that, but it’s a risk worth taking. Q: The next European Youth Meeting will be held in Łódź, Poland. Does the choice of country affect the meeting or its character in some way? Of course. I think that for our European meetings at the end of each year, we increasingly try to listen to the call of the local Church. In Paris, it was very clear that the different dioceses wanted to take part—it wasn’t just a meeting in Paris. There was an importance in spreading hospitality across the dioceses and taking into account certain local questions. For example, there were times of Adoration, which we had never had before at our European meetings. That’s really part of Catholic culture and is very strong in France at the moment. We saw the need to adapt. Surely in Poland there will be similar calls. Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś who was the Archbishop of Łódź until very recently. He had invited us many times to come to the city for the European meeting. When we finally said yes, he was transferred to Kraków. But Cardinal Krajewski, who has now been named Archbishop there, is a man with a great heart for the poor and has done so much for Ukraine. I think Cardinal Krajewski will be ready to welcome us very warmly. Q: I would think that many Ukrainian young people will join because it’s close and many Ukrainians now live in Poland. I also think part of the decision to move more towards the East again was influenced by the fact that there were a thousand young Ukrainians in Paris, either from Ukraine or from the diaspora. It’s not simple for them to make the journey to Paris, but when we’re in Poland, it’s much easier. Offering that space where they understand they are truly part of the European family is very important during this time.