Aug 10, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Pope John Paul II issued a message to Russian youth, who are gathering in Irkutsk, Russia, in preparation for the 20th World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, next August. The youth gathering, promoted by the Russian Catholic bishops, begins today and will conclude Aug. 15, on the feast of the Assumption.
“I greet each one of you with affection,” said the Pope in his message. “This gathering is an important moment for the Church, living in the Russian Federation, a Church which in the past knew many tribulations, which was persecuted and martyred…but which persevered in Christ, and in the proclamation of the perennial truths of the faith.
“In this proclamation of faith were Catholics, Orthodox Christians and Protestants. Their testimony became for us a common patrimony,” he said.
The Pope spoke of the ecumenical nature of the Church. “The ecumenism of the saints, of martyrs, is perhaps the most convincing,” he said.