EUROPE/ITALY - “CHRIST HOPE OF EUROPE”: 2ND EUROPEAN DAY FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: PRAYER VIGIL SATELLITE LINKS WITH CAPITALS OF 10 FUTURE EU MEMBERS

Rome (Fides Service) – The 2nd Day for European University Students, organised jointly by the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences, the Commission of the European Bishops’ Conferences and the Vicariate of Rome, will take place on Saturday 13 March with the theme: “Christ, hope of Europe”. The main event will be a prayer vigil presided by Pope John Paul II in the Vatican at the Paul VI audience Hall. In view of the entrance of 10 new member countries in the EU, the prayer vigil will be linked via satellite with the respective capital cities: Tallin, Vilnius, Riga, Warsaw, Prague, Bratislava, Lublin, Budapest, La Valletta, Nicosia. A choir of 1,800 members of choirs of Italian universities and conservatories choirs. At the end of the vigil the young participants will carry the Youth Cross in procession to the Church of St. Agnes in piazza Navona.
The theme for this 2nd European Day for University Students – “Christ hope for Europe” – is taken from the post synodal exhortation “Ecclesia in Europa”, dated 28 June 2003. The Pope’s exhortation is a message of hope and a call to face the events of life with confidence in the certainty that Christ’s victory is both accomplished and definitive. The purpose of the Day is to highlight the important teaching contained in the papal document in order to promote meetings, debates and study seminars on these matters in Universities and Cultural Centres throughout Europe. (S.L.) (Fides Service 30/1/2004; lines 17; words 227)