“Carry the WYD Cross to every part of the world,”Pope tells youth at end of Wednesday’s general audience

(April22,2009): “Carry the Cross to every corner of the world”, Pope Benedict XVI on Wed. told the youth of the Int. Youth Centre of St. Lawrence. Recalling the 25^th anniversary of the handing over of the huge World Youth Day Cross to the young people of the world by late Pope John Paul II on April 22, 1984, Pope Benedict said following the desire of the late Pontiff, the Cross was kept near the main alter of St. Peter’s Basilica throughout the Jubilee Year. Later, it was kept at the International Youth Center at St. Lawrence, close to the Vatican, from where, it travelled to various continents, opening the hearts of numerous boys and girls to the redeeming love of Christ. Pope Benedict said that the Cross still continues its pilgrimages to wherever World Youth Days are held, and is popularly known by the name “The WYD Cross”. Addressing the youth as “Dear friends”, Pope Benedict entrusted the Cross to them again, urging them to continue to carry it to every corner of the world, so that future generations discover the mercy of God, and re-live in their hearts the hope in the crucified and Risen Christ