3. The Church in Sri Lanka is young - a third of the population of your country is under the age of fifteen - and this gives great hope for the future. Religious education in schools must therefore be a high priority. Whatever difficulties you may encounter in this area, do not be deterred from carrying out your responsibility. Seminaries, likewise, require particular attention on the part of the Bishops (Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops, 84-91), and I urge you to be ever vigilant in maintaining a sound spiritual and theological formation for your seminarians. They need to be inspired to exercise their future apostolate in a way that will attract others to follow Christ - the more holy, the more joyful and the more impassioned they are in their priestly ministry, the more fruitful it will be (cf. Letter of the Holy Father John Paul II to Priests for Holy Thursday 2005, 7). It is gratifying to know that your country is already blessed with a good number of priestly vocations, and I pray that many more young people will recognize and respond to God’s call to give themselves completely for the sake of the Kingdom.