The Rosary recited by the Pope will be the culminating moment of the second European University Day on 13 May, promoted by CCEE, COMECE and the office for university apostolate of the Vicariate of Rome. The novelty of this year’s “Marian Vigil” planned to be held in the Vatican (Paul VI Hall, at 17.45) is the link up via satellite with the ten capitals of the countries that are due to enter the European Union on 1st May: Tallin, Vilnius, Riga, Gniezno (Poland), Prague, Bratislava, Ljubljana, Budapest, Valletta, and Nicosia. “None of us comments Msgr. Lorenzo Leuzzi, head of the office for university apostolate of the Vicariate of Rome, referring to last year’s papal Rosary can forget the enthusiasm and emotion of the link up with Moscow, that ensured a kind of ‘virtual visit’ by John Paul II to the ‘third Rome'”. The Vigil will be enlivened by the choirs of the universities and music conservatories of Italy, with the participation of over 1,800 choristers. This year, too, at the end of the Marian Vigil, the pilgrimage of the Cross will begin: it will lead from the Paul VI Hall to the church of Sant’Agnese in Agone in Piazza Navona. Before the arrival of the Holy Father, in satellite link-up with the capitals of Eastern Europe, the university students will reflect on John Paul II’s apostolic exhortation “Ecclesia in Europa” and welcome the delegations of the ten countries about to join the European Union. The Pope’s arrival is expected at 18.30; after the university students have greeted him, the prayer of the Holy Rosary led by John Paul II will begin. At the end of the Rosary the Pope will give an address and then inaugurate the “pilgrimage of the Cross” to St. Agnese.
