STUDENTS: BE SALT OF THE EARTH AND LIGHT OF THE WORLD

VATICAN CITY, MAR 2, 2002 (VIS) - Today at 6 p.m. in the Paul VI Hall, thousands of Roman university students participated in a Marian prayer vigil and the recitation of the holy rosary led by the Pope. During the gathering, there were live radio and television connections with university students in Vienna, Athens, Budapest, Moscow, Strasbourg and Valencia.

The Holy Father arrived at the hall at 7 p.m. and led the holy rosary in front of the image of Our Lady of Loreto, which will be presented to the youth of Toronto on March 24, Palm Sunday and diocesan World Youth Day, a preparation for the 17th World Youth Day.

Once the rosary was finished, John Paul II greeted the Roman college students as well as the youth of the different European cities connected by live video linkup with the Paul VI Hall.

The most moving moment of the evening occurred when the Pope spoke in Russian to university students gathered in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow, to whom he said: "Let us always be united in the faith and in service to the Gospel." The young people responded with applause that lasted four minutes. Immedietly after, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, metropolitan of the archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow, said in Italian: "We are waiting for you in Russia", and the Holy Father answered: "Arrivederci!"

The Pope concluded in Italian by saying: "Beloved young people, I urge you to promote dialogue between faith and culture in the universities, so that the leaven of the Gospel stimulates and sustains the spiritual and moral quality of your studies and research."

"Only new men and women can renew history. This is your great challenge, beloved young people of Europe. The upcoming World Youth Day in Toronto, which I hope many of you will attend, will help you to understand better this apostolic urgency: to be, at the beginning of the third millennium, 'salt of the earth and light of the world'." He concluded: "Young people of Rome, I have an appointment with you on Thursday March 21 in St. Peter's Square for the traditional celebration and prayer service in preparation for World Youth Day."

AC;PRAYER VIGIL; ROSARY;...;...;VIS;20020304;Word: 370;