JOHN PAUL II AND YOUNG PEOPLE PRAY ROSARY TOGETHER

VATICAN CITY, MAR 3, 2001 (VIS) - At 7 this evening in the Paul VI Hall, Pope John Paul welcomed 7,000 Roman university students with which he prayed the rosary. Youth from Canada, Spain, Ukraine, the Netherlands, and Mexico were united by satellite link-up. At the end of the Marian prayer, the Pope addressed the gathering in Italian, English, Spanish, Ukrainian and Dutch.

He first greeted university students from Italy, urging them to "always follow the path of the Gospel and make your university communities 'laboratories of faith and culture'."

He then spoke in English to both students from Canada and the organizers of the 2002 World Youth Day which will be held in Toronto. He reminded them that they will receive the pilgrim Cross from Italian youth in Rome on Palm Sunday. In so doing, he said, "you will accept the heritage of the Great Jubilee. With creativity and enthusiasm, may you find ways to lead the young people of the world, and especially your fellow university students, to a renewed encounter with Jesus Christ, the one Redeemer of humanity." He also expressed "affectionate greetings to the elderly priests who are here with you."

In Spanish, the Holy Father welcomed students from Navarre University in Pamplona. Encouraging them in their studies, he said: "Study the theme of humanism, in its diverse facets, so that the intrinsic link between faith in Christ and the defense of the dignity of man become ever more apparent." He told young people from Mexico to "promote the new evangelization with the enthusiasm of young believers. ... Give witness ... to the fact that Christ is the source of hope for contemporary man."

Thanks to a television linkup, the Pope greeted "the young people gathered in St. George Cathedral in Leopoli, Ukraine, with their new cardinal, Marian Jaworski. ... In several months I will come to visit your country and we prayed for that this evening."

In another linkup with participants in a Marian vigil in Maastrict, Holland, the Pope asked the students there to "pursue your commitment of Christian witnessing in the university; this is an indispensable commitment in promoting a new Christian humanism in Europe."

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