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 POPE TALKS TO YOUTH ACROSS THE AMERICAS MEXICO CITY ( EWTNnews) Monday night, Pope John Paul II addressed an enthusiatic
crowd of more than 120,000 followers, most of whom were dressed in white to show their
love for him, as well as, youth present via satellite from Brazil, Peru, Venezuela,
Argentina and the U.S. Each city sent live messages from the youth and was shown to the
Pope on giant television screens. As the Pope entered the packed soccer stadium in his "popemobile," and circled the track, hundreds of doves were released into the air and the crowd erupted into song and applause. Before the Holy Father spoke, actors performed dramatizations of the Spanish conquest of Mexico and the appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe to Juan Diego in 1531, an event which led to the conversion of millions of Indians to Catholicism. Then the youth paraded in, filling the center of the arena. Each youth group held flags representing their countries and announced the Patroness of their country. The Holy Father called upon the four generations of Catholics present "to pass on
to the next generations a deep-seated conviction of faith, Christian practices and healthy
moral customs. ... Catholics of all the generations of the 20th Century, be bearers and
witnesses of the great hope of the Church in all those places where God has sent you as
seeds of faith, hope and a love without borders for all your brothers and sisters. ...
You, as children of the Church, must work to ensure that the coming ‘global
society’ will not be spiritually indigent nor inherit the errors of the century which
ends. ... Every one of you, today's Catholics, make the effort to transmit to future
generations the precious heritage of the human and Christian values which give life
meaning." The Pope brought the stadium to a deafening roar when, toward the end of
his speech, he smiled and declared, "Today, I feel Mexican!" A few in attendance, representing the four generations of those present – young and old couples, singles, and families – greeted the Holy Father in behalf of all those present. It was during this moment that a young girl with one of the families gave the Pope a "beanie baby". At the close of the evening the Holy Father asked everyone to pray for the victims of the earthquake in Columbia. This silenced the crowd and then together erupted in unison saying an "Our Father." This gesture of the Holy Father is a continuation of his theme of solidarity for all.
During Mass, crowds of faithful stood in a vigil outside the Papal Nunciate. An older woman stood with her son and three nieces. She held a rose made out of corn husks, which she hoped to give to the Holy Father. She said. "I came out on Friday to see him, but he passed by so fast I wasn't satisfied
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