Last week during the pope's visit to St. Louis, I watched, listened, and asked. Teens rarely give good interviews. Ask them why. From that analysis, I concluded the pope's popularity among teens was due mostly to his celebrity. Then I saw a newspaper ad for a program called Keeping Youth Drug-Free.
Grandparents are cool.
That's it, of course. The pope isn't just the Holy Father to these kids. He's their Holy Grandfather. Every kid needs one. My own grandfather wasn't a holy man, but he was holy to me.