A bridge over two worlds

On April 5, Palm Sunday, over 5 thousand young people from the archdiocese of Madrid, accompanied by their archbishop, Cardinal Antonio M. Rouco Varela, received the Cross and the Icon of Mary of the World Youth Days from the their Australian peers during the Eucharistic celebration presided by Benedict XVI in Saint Peter’s Square. The “passing on of the baton”, the Pope said, “takes on a highly symbolical value, through which we convey our immense gratitude to God for the gifts he bestowed upon us during the great meeting in Sydney and for those he will want to bestow upon us during the meeting in Madrid”. The Cross of the WYD is due to arrive in Madrid on April 10, Good Friday, in the framework of the celebration of the Passion of the Lord held in the Cathedral of Almudena. The youth will then bring the Cross along the central streets of Madrid where it will be part of the Jesus de Medicaneli Procession. The Pope extended his greetings to a group of 150 Spanish delegates who attended the “International Meeting of Youth Pastoral Workers: from Sydney 2008 to Madrid 2011” organised in Rome April 3-5 by the Pontifical Council for the Laity. Among them was also an Australian delegation led by the archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell, and the Spanish delegation led by Cardinal Rouco Varela who illustrated Madrid’s WYD.Catholic heritage. “Evangelised and evangelising Spain” is the message that marked the address of the archbishop of Madrid on the meaning of the WYD for the Church in Spain. “Past experiences of the WYD, starting from the 1st edition in Rome in 1986, until Sydney 2008, must make us understand how important it is to preserve the Catholic heritage in order to help Spain and Europe recover and retrieve their Christian roots”. “This commitment of evangelisation – the Cardinal pointed out – takes place inside and outside the Church, since secularization is encountered even by ecclesiastics. We ought to recover Spain’s centuries-long Catholic tradition so as to acknowledge its affiliation with Christ”. The WYD is crucial for a nation that is suffering the lack of young people and newborn children (in view of the high number of abortions). “The objective is to unite rejuvenation with the recovery of the affiliation with Christ, to counter the radical poverty of man caused by his rupture of the bond with God”. “John Paul II and the then Cardinal Ratzinger described the soundless establishment of apostasy as a trauma in the heart of Europe: the denial of God and of his Existence”. “Let us thus reflect upon the WYD of Madrid – His Eminence remarked – in view of an evangelised Church for the youth that evangelises thanks to the youth”. Spiritual preparation and organization. Msgr. César Augusto Franco Martínez, auxiliary bishop of Madrid, underlined the priority of the spiritual preparation over logistics questions. “Apostolate is important, it is a gesture of charity towards the youth to whom appropriate catechetical and pastoral preparation is transmitted, enabling them to discover the truth which gives meaning to life”. The Bishop exhorts to “think of a young Church, based on prayer, on the listening to the Word, on the celebration of the Sacraments, on the pilgrimage of the faith with Christ as the point of arrival”. “This ability doesn’t consist in organizing social events but rather in involving persons that inspire joy”. However, preparatory works cannot be overlooked. “Organisation of Madrid’s 2011 WYD is based on the estimated attendance of at least 1.5-2 million young people. A long and hard work is ahead of us with the help of the Spanish Government that promised its support. The WYD isn’t only in Madrid since it involves all of Spain”, remarked the Secretary General of Spain’s Bishops’ Conference, Msgr. Juan Antonio Martinez Camino. “We are already discussing the arrival of the youth with Government officials. We intend to focus our energies on the ‘Youth in the dioceses’, i.e., the twinnings with Spanish dioceses so that the young people coming to Spain will be able to learn more about the Country’s Catholic heritage, its spiritual patrimony of Saints, and its religious, historical and artistic sites”. “We expect these roots to be given renewed thrust by the youth”. This view is shared by father Javiér Igea Lopéz-Fando who in his address during the international meeting mentioned the difficulties and the situation of pastoral youth in Spain: “before the false promises of happiness which the youth are attracted by, and which place them in an existential crisis, the recovery of Christian roots ought to become the benchmark against the deconstruction and separation of Christ from the Church. Christ, the true unfailing love, ought to be urgently rediscovered and with Him, one’s own vocation, whether it be consecrated life or marriage”.