MORE THAN 300,000 YOUNG PEOPLE PARTICIPATE IN VIA CRUCIS

VATICAN CITY, AUG 19, 2000 (VIS) - Yesterday at 8:30 p.m., Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope's vicar general for the diocese of Rome, presided at the Via Crucis that started at the Basilica of St. Mary in Ara Coeli and concluded at the Colosseum. More than 300,000 young people took part in the event, among them a number who came from countries at war.

Each of the fourteen stations was marked by a reading of a passage from the Gospel, a reflection and a young person's prayer-testimony.

At the close of the event, Cardinal Ruini asked in prayer: "In all our doubts, perplexities, hesitations that torment our souls and create uncertainty in our journey, enable us Lord Jesus to see and admire the inexhaustible fruitfulness of Your cross, the flowers and the fruits of holiness, of love, of freedom, of justice and of peace which have developed and matured through these two thousand years of Christianity."

"Lord Jesus, we beg with our whole heart that Your blood may be fruitful both for us and our brethren, for the time that is ahead of us. Make each and every one of us Your humble and courageous witness, sincere and without hypocrisy. Grant us the strength also to carry our cross together with You, and to carry it with joy because we know that You love those who give with joy."

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