While celebrating New Year's Day Mass, the Pope praised young people for securing the future of the church amid a time of great uncertainty where we see "shadows on the horizon of today's world."

Educating youth is a responsibility of all people, said the Pope; and teaching them knowledge of truth and the importance of faith and values is crucial in the survival to the church.

"Young people must "learn the importance and the art of peaceful coexistence, mutual respect, dialogue and understanding. Young people by their nature are open to these attitudes, but the social reality in which they grow up can lead them to think and act in the opposite way, even to be intolerant and violent. If they are educated properly, they will become builders of peace in the world."

After Mass, in remarks in English from his studio window, Benedict invited all to pray with him "earnestly for peace throughout the world, for reconciliation and forgiveness in areas of conflict, and for a more just and equitable distribution of the world's resources."

Again, turning his attention to young people, Benedict said that they "look today with a certain apprehension toward the future," and their concerns include "the difficulty in starting a family and finding a stable job." For more on the Pope's New Year's day comments, click here.

At the beginning of each New Year, we all hope and pray that this year is going to be better than the last and we work on making that happen (our resolutions). As we look ahead in 2012 let us work on continuing to strive for a more optimistic outcome and work on being compassionate to each other.