 
Excerpts from
The Holy Father'sPro-Life Message For World Youth Day Pope
John Paul II in Denver, Colorado, USA. The Eighth World Youth
Day is a celebration of Life. This gathering has been the occasion
of a serious reflection on the words of Jesus Christ: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (Jn IO: IO). Young people from every corner of the world, in ardent prayer you have opened your hearts to the truth of Christ's promise of new Life. Through the Sacraments, especially Penance and the Eucharist, and by means of the unity and friendship created among so many, you have had a real and transforming experience of the new life which only Christ can give. You, young pilgrims, have also shown that you understand that Christ's gift of Life is not for you alone. You have become more conscious of your vocation and mission in the Church and in the world. For me, our meeting has been a deep and moving experience of your faith in Christ, and I make my own the words of Saint Paul: "I have great confidence in you. I have great pride in you. I am filled with encouragement. I am overflowing with joy" (2 Cor 7:4). These are not words of empty praise. I am
confident that you have grasped the scale of the
challenge that liesbefore you, and that you will have the wisdom and courage to meet that challenge. So much depends on you. This marvellous world - so loved by the Father that he sent his only Son for its salvation (cf Jn 3:17) - is the theatre of a never-ending battle being waged for our dignity and identity as free, spiritual beings. This struggle parallels the apocalyptic combat described in the First Reading of this Mass. Death battles against Life: a "culture of death" seeks to impose itself on our desire to live, and live to the full. There are those who reject the light of life, preferring "the fruitless works of darkness" (Eph 5:1 1). Their harvest is injustice, discrimination, exploitation, deceit, violence. In every age, a measure of their apparent success is the death of the Innocents. In our own century, as at no other time in history, the "culture of death" has assumed a social and institutional form of legality to justify the most horrible crimes against humanity: genocide, "final solutions', "ethnic cleansings", and the massive "taking of lives of human beings even before they are born, or before they reach the natural point of death" (cf Dominum et Vivificantem 57). Today's Reading from
the Book of Revelation presents the Woman surrounded by hostile
forces. The absolute nature of their attack is symbolised in the object of their evil intention: the Child, the symbol of new life. The "dragon" (Rev 12:3), the "ruler of this world" (Jn 12:3 1) and the "father of lies" (Jn 8:44), relentlessly tries to eradicate from human hearts the sense of gratitude and respect for the original extraordinary and fundamental gift of God: human life itself. Today that struggle has become increasingly direct. |
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