JOHN PAUL II: "WORLD YOUTH DAY WAS AN UNFORGETTABLE EVENT"

VATICAN CITY, AUG 23, 2000 (VIS) - "Last week Rome lived through an unforgettable event, World Youth Day, that left an intense impression on everyone." These were John Paul II's words during the general audience which was held this morning in St. Peter's Square.

The Pope gave thanks to God "for this truly great gift" and also thanked all those who contributed to the success of the event "which took place smoothly and with great order."

After expressing his joy to the young people for having had the chance to meet them, he said: "I still retain the deep emotion I felt as I participated at Tor Vergata" in Saturday's prayer vigil and the Sunday Mass. "I will never forget the enthusiasm of those young people," he continued, "I would have liked to embrace them all and express to each of them the affection that binds be to the youth of our time."

The Holy Father highlighted that the young people had come to seek Jesus Christ and that World Youth Day had been "a personal and community encounter" with Him. "The young people, with the enthusiasm typical of their years, responded that they intend to follow Jesus. They wish to do so because they feel they are a living part of the Church. They wish to do so walking together, because they feel they are the People of God on the march.

"They have no fear of their own weakness," he continued, "because they count on the love and mercy of the heavenly Father who sustains them in their day-to-day lives. Beyond race and culture, they feel they are brothers and sisters, joined by a single faith, by a single hope, by one mission: to set the world aflame with the love of God."

The Pope requested that "the evangelical spirit we breathed over those days, not be lost, rather that it continue to be the spirit of youth communities and associations, of parishes and dioceses, especially in the course of this Jubilee year that invites all believers to meet Christ who died and rose again for us."

After summarizing his catechesis in different languages and greeting the pilgrims present, John Paul II called for prayers on behalf of "the 118 men who died on the Russian submarine, 'Kursk'. Most of them were young. In expressing my profound solidarity with the families in their pain, I entrust the victims to the mercy of God, that He may admit them into His peace."

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