On Thursday, 10 April, the Holy Fa­ther spoke to the young people of Rome and Lazio in preparation for the 18th World Youth Day, that was cele­brated in churches and parishes throughout the dioceses of the world on Palm Sunday. The following is a translation of the Pope's address, which was given in I

Dear Young People,

1. This year too, we have come to­gether for a Meeting of prayer and cele­bration on the occasion of World Youth Day, the WYD!

I greet Cardinal Ruini, Vicar of Rome, and I thank him for his words; I will start by greeting the other Cardinals and Bishops present, and your priests and teachers. I greet the young people who have spoken to me on behalf of all the others and have offered me mean­ingful gifts, and each one of you, dear young people, boys and girls of Rome and of the Dioceses of Lazio who have gathered here. I greet the rain that has faithfully accompanied us; it more or less stopped, but it now seems to have started again!

I also greet those who are taking part in the Meeting of World Youth Day pro­moted by the Pontifical Council for the Laity and, with them, the delegations of young people from Toronto and Cologne, and the artists and witnesses who are accompanying us at today's event.

Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is your Mother too

2. "Behold your Mother!" (Jn 19:27). I chose these words of Jesus as the theme for this 18th World Youth Day.

When his "hour" had come, Jesus from the cross gave Mary his Mother to the disciple John, making her, through the disciple he loved, Mother of all believ­ers, Mother of us all. Behold, Jesus says to each one of us, Behold Mary, my Mother, who from this day becomes your Mother too!

Let us ask ourselves: who is this Mother? To under­stand this better, I recom­mend, in this Year of the Rosary, that you re-read the entire marvelous chapter VIII of the dogmatic Consti­tution Lumen Gentium of the Second Vatican Council. Mary, "in an utterly singular way... cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the Saviour's work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace" (n. 61; The Docu­ments of Vatican II, ed. Walter M. Abbott, S.J., The America Press, 1966). And this supernatural motherhood will continue until the glorious coming of Christ.

Of course, he, Jesus Christ, is the on­ly Redeemer. He is the one Mediator between God and man! However ― as the Council teaches ― Mary cooperates and takes part in his work of salvation. Thus, she is a Mother for whom we must have a deep and true devotion, a profoundly Christocentric devotion, indeed, rooted in the Trinitarian Mystery of God himself.

Take Mary into your life and she will bring you to Christ

3. " 'Behold, your mother!'. And from that hour", the Gospel continues, "the disciple took her into his own home" (Jn 19:27).

Welcoming Mary into their home, into their life, is the privilege of every one of the faithful. This is especially true in difficult moments, such as those that you young people also have to live through at times in this period of your life. I remember this moment for me, when I was young and worked at the chemical factory, and I discovered these words: Totus Tuus. And with the power of these words I was able to get through the terrible war, the terrible Nazi occupation, and then through the other difficult experiences after the war. The possibility of taking Mary into our own home, into our own life, is offered to us all.

This is why today I want to entrust you to Mary. Dear friends, and I tell you from experience, open the doors of your life to her! Do not be afraid to open wide the doors of your hearts to Christ through the One who wants to bring you to him, so that you may be saved from sin and death! She will help you to listen to his voice and say "yes" to every plan that God conceives for you, for your good and for that of all humanity.

Prepare for WYD with the 'Icon of Mary' and the Holy Year Cross

4. I entrust you to Mary while in spir­it you are already on your way towards the World Youth Day in Cologne. The young people from Toronto have just brought here the Holy Year Cross. From Toronto to Cologne the Cross that next Sunday, Palm Sunday, they will present to their friends from Cologne. On the other hand, two youth from Rome have set under the Cross the Icon of Mary which stood guard over the "dawn watchmen" at Tor Vergata on the unforgettable World Youth Day in the Year 2000. Tor Vergata! So that it will always be clearly visible that Mary is a very powerful Mother who leads us to Christ, I would also like this Icon of Mary to be presented to the young peo­ple from Cologne next Sunday, along with the Cross and from now on, to be taken on pilgrimage round the world in preparation for World Youth Days.

With Mary, while you wait to meet the young people from all over the world in Cologne, remain in an atmosphere of prayer and inner listening to the Lord. For this reason, I would also like that as of today, the Day be prepared for with constant prayer to be raised by the whole Church and specifically, in Italy, at four im­portant places: the Marian Shrine of Loreto and the Shrine of Our La­dy of the Rosary in Pompei; here in Rome, at the­ Youth Centre of San Lorenzo, a stone's throw from St Peter's Basilica which for 20 years has wel­comed young pil­grims to the Tomb of St Peter, and at the Church of Sant'Agnese in Agone, in Piazza Navona, where ev­ery Thursday evening since Holy Year 2000 young people can find an oasis of prayer be­fore the Eucharist, and have an oppor­tunity to receive the sacrament of Confession

The Church is an eloquent image of Mary's motherly love

5. Thinking from this moment of the World Youth Day of Cologne, I would like to thank God once again for the gift of the World Youth Days. In these 25 years of my Pontificate I have been granted the grace to meet young people from every part of the world, espe­cially on the occa­sion of these Days. Each one of them has been a "work­shop of faith" where God and man have met ,where every young person has been able to say: "You, O Christ, are 'my Lord and my God'"! They have been true schools of growth in the faith, of ecclesial life, of vocational response.

Furthermore, we can certainly say that every Day has been marked by the motherly love of Mary; the Church has been an eloquent image of her loving motherly concern for the rebirth of youth. Here is the rain again! It is rain­ing again and we young people love you, rain!

L'Osservatore Romano April 16, 2003