"To you all I wish to say and insist on this: open your heart wide to God, let yourselves be surprised by Christ! Allow him the "right to speak to you" during these days!". This is the first message(full text on www.vatican.va) which Pope Benedict XVI addressed today to the young people gathered in Cologne for the 20th World Youth Day. The Pope left the headquarters of the Archbishop’s palace in Cologne at 4pm to get to the Rodenkirchenerbrücke quay and go on the boat escorted by 5 other boats representing the 5 continents. He then stopped at the Poller Rheinwiesen quay to greet the young people who gathered for the welcome festivities. The Pope recalled the "extraordinary spiritual inheritance" left by John Paul II and said: "He loved you, you understood him and returned this with the enthusiasm of your age. Now all together we have the task to put into practice his teachings. We are here in Cologne with this commitment as pilgrims in the footsteps of the Magi". He concluded by saying: "Dear young people the happiness you are seeking, the happiness you have a right to taste has a name, a face: that of Jesus of Nazareth, hidden in the Eucharist. Only He can give fullness of life to humanity". "Be fully convinced of this: Christ takes nothing away from what is beautiful and great inside you, but brings everything to perfection for the glory of God, happiness of mankind, and the salvation of the world".
