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Pope Benedict XVI during World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, Australia. Youth are key to forming the authentic fraternity that will destroy poverty, the pope said in his "state of the world" address this week.

I suppose this is somewhat old news by now, but I’m a bit behind the times. Pope Benedict XVI gave his “state of the world” address Jan. 8 to the members of the Diplomatic Corps, a group accredited to the Holy See. 

It’s a fairly long address so I only made time to skim it. The Holy Father prayed that God grant everyone a year full of justice, serenity and peace. He also said that we must “redouble our efforts on behalf of security and development.” 

He then announced that the Holy See wanted to be the first to sign and ratify the “Convention on Cluster Munitions.” The document is in hopes of reaffirming international humanitarian law.

Pope Benedict focused the bulk of his address on the poor and said that it will be best combatted by investing in the young. He then recounted some of his encounters with the young including last July during World Youth Day and last April in the United States.

He also talked about the state of affairs in other areas of the world including Africa, reportedly the site of his next apostolic journey. The Church’s supreme leader said he’ll  journey there in a few months.