POPE TALKS OF HIS "PREFERENTIAL DIALOGUE" WITH YOUNG PEOPLE

VATICAN CITY, OCT 12, 2003 (VIS) - Pope John Paul, addressing an estimated 30,000 pilgrims in a sun-drenched St. Peter's Square this morning, referred to the 25th anniversary of his pontificate this coming Thursday and had special words for the young of the world with whom he has had, he said, "a preferential dialogue."

In remarks made before praying the Angelus with the faithful, the Holy Father noted that "next Thursday, October 16, marks the 25th year of my pontificate. At 6 p.m. in St. Peter's Square, I will celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving. As of now I would like to thank everyone who joins me through prayer, giving thanks to God for His continual and provident assistance."

"I remember well the days of October 1978," he went on. "In a special way I recall today the first Angelus that I prayed from this window on October 22. In the mystery of the Incarnation, that this prayer helps us contemplate, I sought then to 'embrace the entire future of my pontificate, of the People of God and the entire human family because - as I said - the family gets its start from the will of the Father, but is always conceived in the heart of the Mother'."

"Now, while I think with gratitude of the past, my thoughts turn to young people, with whom I established, right from the start of my petrine ministry a preferential dialogue. I remember that, at the end of that first Angelus, I added a special greeting for them, saying: 'You are the future of the world, you are the hope of the Church, you are my hope."

"I must recognize," John Paul II said in conclusion, "that the response by young people has been truly encouraging. Today I wish to thank them for always having been close to me during these years and I would like them to know that I continue to count on them."

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