Letter of August 19, 2005

20th World Youth Day - August 2005
The Most Reverend Carl F. Mengeling, Bishop of Lansing
In a few weeks the 20th World Youth Day will draw nearly a million youth to Cologne in Germany.  Our new Holy Father, Benedict XVI will join these young people from everywhere in our world.  A large group of youth, accompanied by a goodly number of our priests, seminarians and their parents and other faithful will participate in this sacred event.

The previous International World Youth Day was in Toronto in 2002.  That 19th World Youth Day was the final celebration with a million youth in Canada for Pope John Paul II.

The Holy Father's message to the vast throng during his homily set the stage for coming events:  "You are young, and the Pope is old; 82 or 83 years of life is not the same as 22 or 23.  But the Pope still identifies with your hopes and aspirations.  Although I have lived through much darkness, under harsh totalitarian regimes, I have seen enough evidence to be unshakably convinced that no difficulty, no fear is so great that it can completely suffocate the hope that springs eternal in the hearts of the young.  You are our hope; the young are our hope.

"Do not let that hope die!  Stake your lives on it!"  We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father's love for us and for our real capacity to become the image of His Son.

"I finish with a prayer.  O Lord Jesus Christ, keep these young people in Your love.  Let them hear Your voice and what You say, for You alone have the words of life.  Teach them how to profess their faith, bestow their love, and impart their hope to others.  Make them convincing witnesses to your Gospel in a world so much in need of Your saving grace.

Make them the new people of the beatitudes, that they may be the salt of the earth and the light of the world at the beginning of the third Christian millennium!

Mary, Mother of the Church, protect and guide these young men and women of the 21st century.  Keep us all close to your maternal heart.  Amen."

The Holy Father celebrated Mass in St. Peter Piazza for the 19th World Youth Day in 2004.  After the Mass, the Pope addressed the faithful, especially those in Germany, via TV satellite.  He encouraged them to prepare for the 20th World Youth Day in their country.  He said:  "I address a cordial greeting to you, Bishop Franz-Josef Hermann Bode, in charge of youth ministry, and to those who have taken part in the solemn liturgical celebration in Berlin at which Cardinal Sterzinsky presided.

I warmly thank both you and the representative of the young people for your words addressed to me.  I then greet with great joy you young Germans who, with your leaders and chaplains; have gathered closely around the Cross which has journeyed through numeruous European countries.

The Cross will now set out again, traveling through your country to reach Cologne, where the 20th World Youth Day will be celebrated in August 2005.  I encourage the entire Church in Germany to prepare for this great event."

These great spiritual events for youth originated in the priestly heart of John Paul II.  Love and service for youth was a hallmark of his entire priestly ministry.

To mark the Holy Year of Redemption in 1984, he invited youth to join him in Rome.  Over 300,000 responded.

The United Nations declared an International Youth Year for 1985.  The Holy Father invited the youth of the whole world to Rome on Palm Sunday.

The great response encouraged the Pope to give an official character to these gatherings.  He launched a World Youth Day at the end of 1985.

He asked for a Youth Day to be celebrated in every diocese on Palm Sunday in 1986.

He then decided to have a special World Youth Day every other year starting in 1987 on various continents.

These have happened in:

     1987 - Buenos Aires, Argentina
     1989 - Santiago de Compostela, Spain
     1991 - Czestocharva, Poland
     1993 - Denver, Colorado
     1995 - Manila, Philippines
     1997 - Paris, France
     2000 - Rome (Jubilee Year)
     2002 - Toronto, Canada

Pope John Paul II has participated in all these International World Youth Days. Our new Holy Father will preside at the 20th World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany this August.