University Students in Rome and Around the World to Pray Rosary with Pope

The Ratzinger Forum has translated a nice article which can be found on this page. I was not aware of this nor the North American and South America Connection!!

Together in building 'the civilization of love'
By Giulia Rocchi
Translated from
RomaSette.it

Like a bridge across the Atlantic, the Pope's rosary with university students tomorrow afternoon (March 1) will bridge the old and the new continents.

More than 20,000 will gather at St. Peter's tomorrow, although Aula Paolo VI can only hold about 8,000, and thousands of others will be linked by satellite TV in ten cities of Europe, the Untied States and Latin America.

The annual Marian vigil is held in connection with the European Day for University Students, marking six years in 2008, promoted by the Conference of European Bishops and organized by the Vicariate of Rome's Office for university pastoral ministry.

The theme this year, "Europe and the Americas together to construct the civilization of love", ties in with the conference on "Europe and the Americas together towards integral and fraternal development" at the Pontifical Gregorian University which began Feb. 28 and ends with the Marian vigil. The Pope will symbolically offer his second encyclical Spe salvi to the students as an aid to 'building the civilization of love.'

The encyclical will be distributed as a CD-ROM. The encyclical serves as compass for young people to orient themselves in the contemporary world, said Mons. Lorenzo Leuzzi, director of Rome's pastoral ministry for universities. The event paves the way, he said, to World Youth Day in Sydney, which is oriented towards rediscovering the Sarcrament of Confirmation and the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of Christians. "The encyclical," he said, "calls on Christians to rethink our responsibility to give Christian hope to the contemporary world, and this can happen only if Christians, with the gift of the Holy Spirit, are able to give concrete form to a civilization of love."

The opening ceremony for tomorrow's Marian vigil will be presided by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State.

Participating this year besides the university students of Rome are students from Bucharest (Romania), Toledo (Spain), Avignon (France), Edinburgh (Scotland), Minsk (Belarus), New York City, Havana, Aparecida, Mexico City, and Loja (Ecuador), who will be linked by satellite TV to the Aula Paolo VI.

Last year, the non-European participants were from Asia and Africa. As in the past two years, the students will present their own programs of musical numbers, testimonials and prayers, and then Pope Benedict will lead them in praying the Rosary. Center of the Marian vigil is the icon of Mary Sedes Sapientiae (Seat of Wisdom), which was consigned last December after a Mass at St. Peter's Basilica, by Albanian university students to a Romanian delegation.

The congress at the Gregorian university began with opening addresses on the theme of "The shared roots and historical ties of the relationship between Europe and the Americas" by Florencio Hubenak of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina named in honor of Santa Maria de los Buenos Aires, and by Bianca Maria Tedeschini Lalli of the Roma Tre University.

The meeting continued with three main sessions, the first on: "Europe and the Americas in the global society", the second on: "The role of university formation in facing development challenges", and the third on: "University cultures and models in globalisation". The meeting will come to an end in the morning of March 1 with two round-table discussions on "The brain drain problem: U.S.A. - Latin America - Europe" and "Experiences of and prospects for university co-operation for integral and fraternal development".