VATICAN. Aug. 23 (CWNews.com) - At his regular Wednesday public audience on August 23, Pope John Paul II said that the previous week's World Youth Day celebration had been «an unforgettable event» that «left a powerful impression on everyone involved.»
The enthusiasm and spiritual fervor that 2 million young people felt during this visit to Rome should not disappear, the Holy Father continued. Rather, it should «continue to impregnate the youth groups, the parishes, and the dioceses, especially during this Jubilee year».
The World Youth Day participants, the Pope observed, came «from every race and every culture,» but when they gathered in Rome they recognized that they were all united «by a single faith, a single hope, and the same mission: to inflame the world with love of God.»
The Pope recalled that when on August 19, when he arrived at Tor Vergata where 2 million young people had already gathered for the climactic celebrations of World Youth Day, he saw «an enormous human tapestry» from the air as his helicopter approached the site. «I cannot forget their enthusiasm,» he said of the young people with whom he spent the weekend. «I would like to embrace every one of them, to tell them of the affection that ties me to the young people of our time, to whom the Lord has confided a great mission of service, building up a civilization of love.» On a more somber note, the Pope turned his attention to the Russian sailors who died on board the submarine Kursk. Most of them, too, were quite young, he pointed out. He asked for prayers, for the victims and their families.
After the audience, Pope John Paul returned to his summer residence in Castel Gandalfo.
Catholic World News Service - Vatican Update