NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      VATICAN CITY, 8 (NE) University students from diverse places of the world participated, with live connections from Buenos Aires, New York, Czestochowa and Santiago of Compostela, of the Rosary presided by Pope John Paul II last Saturday. Upon concluding the Marian prayer, the Holy Father commenced the pilgrimage of the cross of the World Youth Days through different academic centers in Rome.

      "On this afternoon I am proud to present to you the beginning of the pilgrimage of the university youth Cross", the Pope said, greeting in different languages the youth of diverse parts of the world "connected with us through Vatican Radio".

      In his message, the Holy Father summoned the gift of reconciliation in favor of university youth. "We have meditated on the mystery of God our Father, of whom Mary is the first witness, and we have summoned for the university students of the whole world the gift of reconciliation and of mercy", he said. He also asked youth to "recognize in the cross the most eloquent sign of the mercy of the Lord, capable of provoking in every academic community a renovated impulse toward He who is the foundation and certainty of every itinerary of intellectual search".