Pope’s message to young European adults gathered in Netherlands

(December 28, 2010) Pope Benedict XVI has sent his blessing to a meeting of young adults of Europe that began on Tuesday in Rotterdam, Netherlands, saying joy doesn't exclude humanity's suffering. The community of Taizé has organized the 33rd young European adults’ meeting, Dec. 28-Jan 1, at which some 30,000 young people have been invited by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Netherlands, the General Council of the Dutch Protestant Church and the Netherlands Council of Churches. The Holy Father expressed his wish that God will guide the participants to the "wellsprings of joy." And he noted that "this joy does not take you away from solidarity with the sufferings of humanity, but is intimately related to trust in God.” “By living in this trust, by welcoming it,” he said, “you permit this radical renewal of the human being that Christ came to bring." The papal message said that in this way, the young people "will be filled with the courage to swim against the stream when necessary." "Not giving in to the mirage of individualism, you will become ever more men and women of communion, through the gift of yourselves for others," the Pope urged. Other religious and civic leaders have also sent messages to the Rotterdam meeting, including Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon. Previous European meets have been held in Poznan, Brussels, Geneva, Zagreb, Milan, Lisbon, Hamburg, Budapest and Paris.