25 April" "
“Reconciliation between Christians is decisive for the credibility of the preaching of the Gospel and for the construction of Europe”, said the Pope on receiving in audience the participants at the 10th Symposium of European bishops being held in Rome, on the morning of 25 April. “From this point of view, the Charta oecumenica for Europe signed in Strasbourg in April 2001 the Pope said marks an important step for the growth of collaboration between Christian Churches and communities. I pray to God that this process may be continued with ever growing faith and determination”. Many young people were among the 160 delegates received in audience: “Dear young people John Paul II told them I greet you with affection. I find it particularly significant that you, the hope of the Church and of Europe, should be here at this Symposium. It interests you closely because, in the current social context, it is to you that the Church is looking with particular attention”. “Indeed he continued it’s just the young who are asking that the Gospel be sown in their heart in a new way today. It is they who repeat to us, sometimes in a demanding way, their eagerness to hear the ‘good news””. Today, “faced by the absence of values and the profound existential questions being posed to present-day society, we must proclaim and bear witness that Christ has taken upon himself the questions, the hopes and even the sufferings of the humanity of every age”. And “Europe has an urgent need to meet this God, who loves man and who makes himself present in all human trials and tribulations. For this to happen, however, it is indispensable that the believers be ready to bear witness to their faith with their life. Only in this way will ecclesial communities grow that are mature, prepared and willing to use every means for the new evangelization”.
