Glyzelle Palomar and Jun Chura, first two kids who gave their testimony, get a hug from Pope Francis. #PopeTYSM pic.twitter.com/ToE1YdZYzv — ABS-CBN News (@ABSCBNNews) January 18, 2015

MANILA (UPDATED) - Pope Francis gave comfort to two former street children who gave their testimonies before the Holy Father at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila Sunday morning.

Former street child Glyzelle Iris Palomar, 12, wept openly as she told the Pope how she has seen other street children fall into drugs and prostitution.

"Bakit po pumapayag ang Diyos na mayroong ganitong nangyayari? Dahil walang kasalanan ang mga bata. At bakit kaunti lang ang mga taong tumutulong sa amin?" she asked the Pope.

("Why would God allow this to happen, even if the children are not at fault? Why is it that only a few people help us?")

Palomar said she had been given a new life by the Tulay ng Kabataan Foundation, an organization that helps street children.

The Pope was visibly moved by Palomar's story, blessing the former street child several times and hugging her as the crowd applauded.

Another former street child, Jun Chura, 14, told the Pope he left his home and lived on the streets because of extreme poverty.

Chura said he used cardboard boxes for his bed and would scavenge bottles, plastics and other recyclable items to get money for food.

Sometimes, he said he would stare at the people eating in restaurants and then ask for their leftovers.

Chura said he had seen some street children learn to steal, kill and disrespect their elders. Some street children even fight each other over the items they have stolen while others turn to drugs.

He said some individuals would try to entice street children with money and food and then promising to put them to school. However, these people would often abuse the street children, forcing them to clean houses or perform sexual acts.

Like Palomar, Chura said he found new life and is now in school because of the Tulay ng Kabataan Foundation. "Bigla akong nabuhayan na hindi lahat ng tao ay walang puso," he said.

He added that it is now his dream to finish his schooling so he could help other street children like himself.

The two street children gave tokens to the Holy Father as well as a brochure.

The Pope then alternately blessed and hugged the two children.

WHY DO CHILDREN SUFFER SO MUCH?

In his message to the youth, the Pope reminded the youth of the need to open themselves to the love of Christ and to offer themselves passionately to the great work of renewing society.

The Supreme Pontiff first questioned why there were very few women representatives who gave their testimonies at the youth event.

"Women have much to tell us...Women are capable of seeing things in a different angle. Women can pose questions that we men cannot understand," he said.

He pointed out that it was Glyzelle who "put a question that there is no answer and she wasn't even be able to express it in words, but rather in tears."

He told organizers that more girls should be given the opportunity to tell their stories "when the next pope comes."

The Pope also thanked Chura for speaking bravely about his life, saying the nucleus of his question "almost doesn't have a reply."

"Only when we too can cry about the things that you said are we able to come close to replying to the question," he said.

"Why do children suffer so much? Why do children suffer? When the heart is able to ask itself and cry, then we can understand something. There is a worldly compassion, which is useless. You spoke something of this. It is a compassion which moreover leads us to put our hand into the pocket and give something to someone, to the poor."

"If Christ had had that kind of compassion, he would have walked by three people, given them something and moved on. It is only when Christ cried and was capable to cry that he understood our lives, what is going in our lives," he added.

The Pope said the world today has a "lack of capacity of knowing how to cry." Even Jesus in the Bible cried for his dear friend, Lazarus, and was moved to compassion when he saw the multitudes without a pastor.

"Certain realities in life, we only see through eyes that are cleansed through our tears," he said.

Pope Francis said the testimonies of the two street children pose a challenge to the faithful.

"When we pose this question to us, why children suffer, why this or that tragedy occurs in life, our response must either be silence or a word that is born of our tears."

Called the "Pope of the poor", Pope Francis has frequently spoken about the need for the Church to reach out to the poor and hungry.

In his message in Malacanang, he urged leaders to reject corruption and end "scandalous social inequalities."

In his homily at the Manila Cathedral, his first Mass in the country, the Pope stressed that the Filipino clergy should be "ambassadors for Christ."

"Only by becoming poor ourselves, by stripping away our complacency will we be able to identify with the least of our brothers and sisters. We will see things in a new leaf and thus respond with integrity to the challenge of proclaiming the radicalism of the gospel in a society which has grown comfortable in social exclusion, polarization, and scandalous inequality," he said.