By CBCP News

MANILA— A real friend will never hand you gossip, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle told young Catholics Sunday, warning that rumors and hurtful jokes are quietly poisoning friendships among the young.

Tagle spoke at a youth gathering during the 12th Philippine Conference on New Evangelization at the University of Santo Tomas, saying many young people mistake gossip for real friendship.

“If you receive gossip, bias, lies, violent and destructive content, the one who sent you that is not a friend,” said Tagle, pro-prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization.

Friends who constantly criticize others will eventually turn on each other, too, he said, urging the youth to spot that pattern early in their own circles.

Gossip breaks trust, Tagle said, but steady, quiet love slowly heals it. A person who feels truly accepted becomes a faithful friend in return, he added.

The cardinal grounded his message in the Gospel of John, where Jesus calls his disciples friends because he shares sacred truths with them, not idle talk.

“I have called you friends,” Tagle said, quoting Scripture. “Friendship is sharing the holy things that we have experienced from God.”

He said real friendship demands gentleness toward those who struggle, not judgment or quiet exclusion from the group.

Tagle recalled a young woman at a global synod who said some youth feel unworthy of the Church because its leaders often come across as harsh and unwelcoming.

“Some of us young people feel we are not good enough for the Church,” Tagle recalled her saying, adding that her words moved him deeply.

Young people need friends and pastors who accept them fully, without gossip, shame or rejection standing in the way, the cardinal said.

“The person who gives you a lot of headache is the person that you should love the most,” Tagle told the crowd.

He urged the youth to guard their friend circles carefully, choosing truth and loyalty over rumors, and love over careless talk.

TOP 📸: Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization, speaks at a youth gathering during the 12th Philippine Conference on New Evangelization at the University of Santo Tomas’ Quadricentennial Pavilion in Manila on July 26, 2026. RCAM MEDIA