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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CHANGE DIRECTION AND TURN TO CHRIST

VATICAN CITY, AUG 20, 2000 (VIS) - At 8:30 a.m. today, John Paul II returned to the campus of Tor Vergata University to preside at the Eucharistic celebration that marked the close of 15th World Youth Day. The Mass was attended by two million young people who last night participated in the prayer vigil on the same site.

In his homily, the Holy Father mentioned the Apostle Peter's question to the Lord, "to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" and commented: "Christ's question cuts across the centuries and comes down to us; it challenges us personally and calls for a decision. What is our answer? Dear young people, if we are here today, it is because we identify with the Apostle Peter's reply."

"Around you, you hear all kinds of words. But only Christ speaks words that stand the test of time and remain for all eternity. The time of life that you are living calls for decisive choices on your part: decisions about the direction of your studies, about work, about your role in society and in the Church. It is important to realize that among the many questions surfacing in your minds, the decisive ones are not about 'what.' The basic question is 'who,' 'who' am I to go to, 'who' am I to follow, 'to whom' should I entrust my life?"

The Holy Father highlighted that "only Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God and of Mary, the eternal Word of the Father born two thousand years ago at Bethlehem in Judaea, is capable of satisfying the deepest aspirations of the human heart. In Peter's question: 'To whom shall we go?' the answer regarding the path to follow is already given. It is the path that leads to Christ. And it is possible to meet the divine Master personally: He is in fact truly present on the altar in the reality of His Body and Blood. In the Eucharistic Sacrifice, we can enter into contact with the person of Jesus in a way that is mysterious but real, drinking at the inexhaustible fountain that is His life as the Risen Lord."

"The Eucharist," he continued, "is the sacrament of the presence of Christ, who gives Himself to us because He loves us. He loves each one of us in a unique and personal way in our practical daily lives: in our families, among our friends, at study and work, in rest and relaxation. He loves us when He fills our days with freshness, and also when, in times of suffering, He allows trials to weigh upon us: even in the most severe trials, He lets us hear His voice.

"Yes, dear friends, Christ loves us and He loves us forever! He loves us even when we disappoint Him, when we fail to meet His expectations for us. ... How can we not be grateful to this God who has redeemed us, going so far as to accept the foolishness of the Cross? To God who has come to be at our side and has stayed with us to the end?"

The Pope emphasized that "to celebrate the Eucharist, 'to eat His flesh and drink His blood,' means to accept the wisdom of the Cross and the path of service. ... Our society desperately needs this sign, and young people need it even more so, tempted as they often are by the illusion of an easy and comfortable life, by drugs and pleasure-seeking, only to find themselves in a spiral of despair, meaninglessness and violence. It is urgent to change direction and to turn to Christ. This is the way of justice, solidarity and commitment to building a society and a future worthy of the human person."

"Dear friends, when you go back home, set the Eucharist at the center of your personal life and community life: love the Eucharist, adore the Eucharist and celebrate it, especially on Sundays, the Lord's Day. Live the Eucharist by testifying to God's love for every person. ... May every community always have a priest to celebrate the Eucharist! I ask the Lord therefore to raise up from among you many holy vocations to the priesthood. Today as always the Church needs those who celebrate the Eucharistic Sacrifice with a pure heart. The world must not be deprived of the gentle and liberating presence of Christ living in the Eucharist!

"You yourselves must be fervent witnesses to Christ's presence on the altar. Let the Eucharist mould your life and the life of the families you will form. Let it guide all life's choices. ... In a special way, may sharing in the Eucharist lead to a new flourishing of vocations to the religious life. In this way the Church will have fresh and generous energies for the great task of the new evangelization."

The Pope affirmed that if some of the young people present heard the Lord's inner call "to give yourselves completely to Him in order to love Him 'with an undivided heart,' do not be held back by doubts or fears. Say 'yes' with courage and without reserve, trusting Him who is faithful to His promises."

At the end of his homily, John Paul II expressed his gratitude to God "for the gift of youth, which continues to be present in the Church and in the world because of you. Thank God for the World Youth Days! Thanks be to God for all the young people who have been involved in them in the past sixteen years! Many of them are now adults who continue to live their faith in their homes and work-places. I am sure, dear friends, that you too will be as good as those who preceded you. You will carry the proclamation of Christ into the new millennium. When you return home, do not grow lax. Reinforce and deepen your bond with the Christian communities to which you belong."

Prior to the Pope's final blessing, the message of the 7th International Youth Forum was read to the assembly. The forum was held in Rome from August 12 to 15.

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POPE CALLS ON YOUTH TO BE FAITHFUL TO CHRIST

VATICAN CITY, AUG 19, 2000 (VIS) - This evening, the Pope called on the two million young people who had gathered to hear him in the campus of Rome's Tor Vergata University that they remain faithful to Christ, and that they not be afraid to commit themselves to Him. John Paul II's request came at the end of the prayer vigil which was the penultimate event of the 15th World Youth Day. The Day will come to a close with tomorrow's Mass.

Prior to reaching the stage from which he presided the vigil, Pope John Paul spent 40 minutes moving through the crowd on his popemobile. He was acclaimed by the young people who sang, applauded, waved colored handkerchiefs and cried "long live the Pope!"

The vigil began with a brief greeting from the Pope and the invocation of martyr saints from Rome and elsewhere. This was followed by a presentation of various experiences undergone by young people along the paths of reconciliation, justice, liberty and saintliness. Later, there was a reading of the verses of the Gospel according to Matthew where Jesus, walking with His disciples towards Caesarea Philippi, asks them what men say about Him.

The Holy Father then pronounced his homily. Commenting the Lord's question to His disciples, "but who do you say that I am?" and Simon Peter's reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," the Pope asked: "What is the meaning of this dialogue? Why does Jesus want to know what people think about Him? Why does He want to know what His disciples think about Him?"

"This event, which took place near Caesarea Philippi, leads us, in a sense, into the 'school of faith.' There the mystery of the origin and development of our faith is disclosed. ... The Upper Room in Jerusalem too was a kind of 'school of faith' for the Apostles."

John Paul II said that each of the young people may sense in themselves "the process of questions and answers that we have just been talking about. You can all measure the difficulties you have in believing, and even feel the temptation not to believe. But at the same time you can also experience a slowly maturing sense and conviction of your commitment in faith. In fact, there is always a meeting between God and the human person in this wonderful school of the human spirit, the school of faith. The Risen Christ always enters the Upper Room of our life and allows each of us to experience His presence and to declare: You, O Christ, You are 'my Lord and my God'."

"Dear friends," he continued, "to believe in Jesus today, to follow Jesus as Peter, Thomas, and the first Apostles and witnesses did, demands of us, just as it did in the past, that we take a stand for Him, almost to the point at times of a new martyrdom: the martyrdom of those who, today as yesterday, are called to go against the tide in order to follow the divine Master. ... It is not by chance, dear young people, that I wanted the witnesses to the faith in the twentieth century to be remembered at the Colosseum during this Holy Year."

"Perhaps you will not have to shed your blood, but you will certainly be asked to be faithful to Christ! A faithfulness to be lived in the circumstances of everyday life: I am thinking of how difficult it is in today's world for engaged couples to be faithful to purity before marriage. I think of how the mutual fidelity of young married couples is put to the test. I think of friendships and how easily the temptation to be disloyal creeps in.

"I think also," he added, "of how those who have chosen the path of special consecration have to struggle to persevere in their dedication to God and to their brothers and sisters. I think of those who want to live a life of solidarity and love in a world where the only things that seem to matter are the logic of profit and one's personal or group interest.

"I think too of those who work for peace and who see new outbreaks of war erupt and grow worse in different parts of the world. I think of those who work for human freedom and see people still slaves of themselves and of one another. I think of those who work to ensure love and respect for human life and who see life so often attacked and the respect due to life so often flouted."
The Holy Father indicated that later he would give the Gospel to the young people. "It is the Pope's gift to you at this unforgettable vigil."

"It is Jesus in fact that you seek when you dream of happiness;" he explained, "He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is He who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is He who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal."

After highlighting that in their undertakings the young people can count on the help of their families, communities, priests and teachers, the Pope added: "In the struggle against sin you are not alone: so many like you are struggling, and through the Lord's grace are winning!"

"Dear friends, at the dawn of the Third Millennium I see in you the 'morning watchmen'. In the course of the century now past young people like you were summoned to huge gatherings to learn the ways of hatred; they were sent to fight against one another. The various godless messianic systems which tried to take the place of Christian hope have shown themselves to be truly horrendous. Today you have come together to declare that in the new century you will not let yourselves be made into tools of violence and destruction; you will defend peace, paying the price in your person if need be. You will not resign yourselves to a world where other human beings die of hunger, remain illiterate and have no work. You will defend life at every moment of its development; you will strive with all your strength to make this earth ever more livable for all people."

John Paul II concluded his address by assuring the young people that "in saying 'yes' to Christ, you say 'yes' to all your noblest ideals. ... Have no fear of entrusting yourselves to Him! He will guide you, He will grant you the strength to follow Him every day and in every situation."

The Pope then gave the Gospel to a number of young people from all the continents and made an invitation for a renewal of baptismal promises. A number of young men and women presented testimonies of faith, highlighting their own vocations and life situations. The vigil concluded with the singing of the 'Magnificat' and the Holy Father then withdrew.

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NEXT WORLD YOUTH DAY TO BE HELD IN CANADA IN 2002

VATICAN CITY, AUG 20, 2000 (VIS) - At the conclusion of today's Mass at Rome's Tor Vergata University and prior to praying the angelus, the Holy Father announced that "the next World Youth Day will be held in Toronto, Canada, in the summer of 2002."

He went on: "Right from now I invite the young people of the world to set out for Toronto, and I offer a special greeting to the Canadian delegation, who wanted to be here at this celebration to accept the task which will be theirs."
The Holy Father asked the Blessed Virgin "to watch over all the youth of the world" and expressed his "heartfelt thanks to you who have taken part in this 15th World Youth Day." He also extended his gratitude to all the ecclesial and civil authorities who participated in organizing the event, concluding: "I ask all of you to see to it that the rich legacy of good which this common undertaking has produced is not wasted."

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