JOHN PAUL II: YOUTH PRAYING IN FRONT OF HIS TOMB, THE WORDS OF CARD. DZIWISZ AND MGR. COMASTRI

Today John Paul II "speaks to the world through you youth, and you youth have a great responsibility. I wish you may fulfil his expectations: certainly he, next to the Lord, is praying for you, so that you will always be morning sentinels". With these words, card. Stanislao Dziwisz, for 40 years Karol Wojtyla’s secretary, ended last night the vigil of prayer of the youth on the tomb of the Polish Pope in the Vatican Grottos, at the end of the day of the second anniversary of his death. The cardinal, after saying the Rosary – with meditations by archbishop Angelo Comastri, archpriest of the Vatican Basilica –, recalled some moments of John Paul II’s death: "today, we – he said off the cuff – are very lucky that we are here on this day, at this time, in this place, around the Holy Father John Paul II. As we had been summoned two years ago when he was still alive: some people who are here today and I were next to John Paul II’s bed, and you were under the windows in Saint Peter’s Square, in the squares, in the streets of Rome. He could hear you: the windows were open and this was a great relief to him. He looked for you and you came to be with him at the time of his transition. I think he is not alone today either: he is with the youth that he loved so much, he loved you so much". (continued)