” “In the opening prayer of the Angelus from Castel Gandolfo , Benedict XVI invited the young people who are "participating in the 20th World Youth Day to look" to the "witness of the martyrs", "radiant examples of evangelical heroism". Drawing inspiration from the liturgy of this Sunday (20th of the Ordinary Time) which proposes "a unique example of faith: a Canaanite woman who asks Jesus to heal her daughter "cruelly tormented by a devil" the Pope recalled that "the Lord does not look away when his children are in need and, if at times he may appear to be insensitive to their requests, it is only to put them to the test and toughen their faith. This is the testimony given by the saints, and in particular this is the testimony of the martyrs, who are more closely associated with the sacrifice of Christ the Redeemer. In the last few days- went on the Pope we have commemorated a martyr of our time, Saint Therese Benedicta of the Cross, Edith Stein, joint patron saint of Europe, who died in a concentration camp; and precisely today the liturgy presents to us a martyr of Charity who sealed his testimony of love to Christ in the hunger wing at Auschwitz; St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, who voluntarily gave his life in the stead of the father of a family". Benedict XVI then added: "I invoke their protection on everyone and in particular that of Saint Therese Benedicta of the Cross, who spent some years of her life in the Carmelite monastery of Cologne. May Our Lady, the Queen of Martyrs, whose glorious assumption we will be contemplating tomorrow, watch over each and everyone of you with her motherly love". After reciting the Angelus, the Pope, in greeting the faithful in the various languages, invited everyone to "pray for the young people who are on their way to Cologne to participate in the 20th World Youth Day.
