EUROPE/SWITZERLAND - The Pope in Switzerland: “The Church is mission! The time has come to prepare young generations of apostles who are not afraid to proclaim the Gospel. For every baptised person it is essential to grow from a faith of habit to a mature faith expressed through clear, convinced and courageous decisions.”

Bern (Fides Service) - “The purpose of my apostolic pilgrimage is to join young Catholics of Switzerland on the occasion of their national meeting... it is the duty to proclaim the Gospel of Christ that pushes me onto the paths of the world to re-propose it to the men and women of the third millennium the new generations in particular.” With these words pronounced at the military airport of Payerne, on Saturday June 5, when he arrived in Switzerland, Pope John Paul II explained the significance of this, his 103rd apostolic journey. “Dear people of Switzerland allow me to knock ideally at the door of the heart of each one of you, to enter your homes and the places where you live and carry out your daily activities. To all I would propose the joyful proclamation of the Gospel of Christ the Saviour, offering each the gift of His peace.”
In the afternoon the Pope went to the Bern Expo sports stadium to meet the young Catholics of Switzerland. After a speech of welcome given by the President of the Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Amedee Grab, and testimony from three young people in three different languages, the Pope reflected on the passage from the Gospel according to St Luke which describes the meeting in Nain between the sad funeral procession accompanying the body of the young son of a widow to the cemetery and the joyful group of disciples who followed Jesus. “Also today, dear young friends, we can find ourselves in that sad procession along the roads of the village of Nain - said John Paul II -. This happens if you give in to despair and if the mirages of consumer society seduce you and distract you from authentic joy and swamps you with passing pleasures, if you are gripped by indifference and superficiality, if, faced with evil and suffering you doubt the existence of God and his love for each person, if you search in the drifting of a disordered affectivity to quench the inward thirst for a love which is authentic and pure. Precisely at those times Christ is near to each of you and, as with the boy at Nain, he says the word which shakes and reawakens: Rise up! Heed the call which helps you back on your feet!”
The Pope then recalled that “Christianity is not simply a book of culture or an ideology, or an system of values and principles however lofty. Christianity is a person, a presence, a face: Jesus, who gives meaning and fullness to human life.” He then called on the young people “not to be afraid of meeting Jesus” reading Sacred Scripture, personal and community prayer; in active participation in the Eucharist, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation; in the Church, in the face of a person who is suffering, in need, or who is a foreigner. “I too, like you, was once twenty years old - the Pope said -. I was fond of skiing and theatrics. I studied and worked. I had dreams and anxieties. In those years, now so long ago, at a time when my homeland was suffering from the war and then from a totalitarian regime, I tried searched for a meaning to my life. I found it by following the Lord Jesus.”
The Pope gave the young people two tasks: “Listen to the voice of the Lord who speaks to you through the events of everyday life, through the joys and sufferings of each day, the people near you, the voice of conscience thirsting for truth, happiness, goodness and beauty” and "start walking!". “Do not be content to talk about it; do not put off doing good until the opportunity comes, it may never come. The time has come for action! At the beginning of the third millennium, you too are called to proclaim the message of the Gospel with witness of life. The Church needs your energy and your enthusiasm, your youthful ideals so the Gospel may permeate the tissue of society and give rise to a civilisation of authentic justice and love without discrimination. Today more than ever, in a world often without light and without the courage of noble ideals, this is not the time to be ashamed of the Gospel. Instead it is time to preach it from the rooftops.”

On Sunday June 6, the Pope presided the celebration of Mass in honour of the Most Holy Trinity on the Allmend field at Bern. The Pope presided the Mass concelebrated by the Bishops of Switzerland and from other countries and the cardinals and bishops accompanying the Pope. Also present Joseph Deiss President of the Swiss Confederation. “The celebration of the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity constitutes for Christians a vibrant call to work for unity- the Pope said in his homily -. This call concerns everyone pastors and people, and it leads to renewed awareness of each one’s responsibility in the Church, the Bride of Christ. How can we fail to hear, at these words of Christ, the urgency of ecumenism? I reaffirm, again on this occasion, the will to advance along the path but which is difficult but fills us with joy towards full communion.”
“It is clear that a great contribution to the cause of ecumenism comes from the effort of Catholics to live unity among themselves” the Pope said, explaining that “a local Church in which spirituality of communion is able to continually purify itself from the "drug" of egoism, which generates jealousy, diffidence, thirst for self-affirmation, harmful opposition.”
Christians are called to bear witness with word and deed to Jesus Christ who came into the world to reveal to us and give us the love of the Father. And because the Church is mission, “she needs "prophets" able to reawaken in the community faith in the Word who reveals to us God rich in mercy. The time has come to prepare young generations of apostles who are not afraid to proclaim the Gospel. For every baptised person it is essential to grow from a faith of habit to a mature faith expressed in personal decisions which are clear, convinced and courageous. Only such faith, celebrated and shared in the liturgy and in fraternal charity, can nourish and strengthen the community of the disciples and make it become a missionary Church, which is free from false anxieties because it is certain of the Father’s love.”
Lastly the Pope recalled that God loves us despite our sins and he redeemed us through the blood of Christ: the authentic source of the greatness indestructible dignity of the human person stemming from the fact “in every human being is a reflection of the image of God” therefore “any offence to the person is an offence to the Creator who loves every person with the Father’s love ”. The Pope ended his homily with these words: “Recognise and honour the image of God in every human person! The human person created by God mirrors the glory of the Most Holy Trinity.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 7/6/2004; Righe 75; Parole 1.102)