VATICAN CITY, MAR 28, 1999 (VIS) - At today's angelus, recited in St. Peter's Basilica following Palm Sunday Mass, Pope John Paul greeted all the young people present for World Youth Day, and also made a heartfelt appeal for peace in the Balkans.
"I know that you are preparing the 15th World Youth Day, which will take place in Rome in August 2000," he told the youth. "It is up to you to welcome in the best possible way your peers who will come from every part of the world, and to give them a witness of authentic faith and cordial fraternity."
The Holy Father then thanked Italy's Puglia region for the olive trees they offered to decorate St. Peter's Square, as well as the olive branches for the day's celebration.
"May these branches," he said, "be the symbol of that peace so desired by the populations of the Balkan region! Today we fervently pray to 'the Prince of Peace', who offers himself to us so defenseless, so that He may inspire all those who take up arms! May fraternity and understanding prevail, also in that part of Europe, over the forces of hatred! The Pope is with those who are suffering, and he cries out to everyone: It is always time for peace! It is never too late to meet and negotiate!"
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