Pope meets Madrid youth
(April 02, 2012) Pope Benedict XVI on Monday gratefully recalled the 26th
World Youth Day (WYD) he celebrated last August in Madrid, Spain, saying the faith
and joy of young people at the memorable event were eloquent signs of the risen Christ.
He made the observation in a meeting in the Vatican with some 5000 youth, officials,
organizers and sponsors from Spain’s Madrid Archdiocese, who last week participated
in a meeting in Rocca di Papa, outside Rome, organized by the Vatican’s Pontifical
Council for the Laity. The meeting took stock of last year’s World Youth Day in Madrid
to prepare for the next World Youth Day scheduled for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from
July 23-28, 2013. Monday, April 2, being the 7th death anniversary of
Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict remembered his great predecessor who initiated the
tradition of World Youth Days. Pope Benedict urged the young people to make Jesus
their best friend, and like the Apostles, to be his missionaries in their families,
among friends, acquaintances, in their fields of study and work and among the poor
and the sick. Referring to the previous day’s Palm Sunday celebration, the Pope invited
the youth to be fully united with the Redeemer, and take upon themselves the cross
of pain and of suffering of the world, in order to participate more deeply with the
love of Christ for humanity. 
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