.- Archbishop Jesus Sanz Montes of Oviedo in Spain has invited young people to embrace the meaning of the World Youth Day Cross, which is a sign that Christ “assumes every kind of suffering and challenge.”
The archbishop said that over the next year, the WYD Cross and Icon of the Virgin Mary will visit various dioceses in Spain. The cross has already visited cities and towns across Europe, Asia, the Americas and Australia.
Archbishop Sanz recalled that the cross “is the sign of our victory and not the pin of our defeat. Blessed are the young people who understand this. Blessed are the pastors if they teach them to live it.”
Each WYD is a call of the Church and a “providential occasion in which God gives us his grace,” he said, noting that many young people often discover their vocations during the event.
“To gaze upon thousands and thousands of Christian young people helps us to recognize with joy what Pope Ratzinger said as he began his papal ministry: the Church is alive, the Church is young,” the archbishop concluded.
