Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - As every year Pope John Paul II will preside the annual December Mass for Rome’s university students in St Peter’s on 14 December. A full agenda of initiatives has been planned in preparation for this appointment with the Holy Father, which in a way marks the start of the journey to Cologne for the 20th Word Youth Day in August 2005.
On Saturday 11 December university students will gather in the Basilica of St Mary Major to welcome the icon of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom, returned from a pilgrimage to universities in Wales, Scotland and England, and to listen to a concert of Marian and Christmas music with the participation of 19 university choirs including the Catholic Choir of London, the Canorus Choir of Poznan and the Inter-University Choir of Rome. The Icon, painted by Father Marko Ivan Rupnik and donated to university students on the occasion of the Great Jubilee 2000 by Pope John Paul II, will be venerated in the next few days at S. Ippolito parish in Piazza Bologna and the parish of S. Romano in the city’s Tiburtino district where most non-Roman university students stay.
During the Mass on 14 December the Pope will give the Icon to a delegation of university students from Poland who will take it to their country for a nation wide pilgrimage to universities.
From 12 to 14 December at the La Sapienza University in Rome some 150 students representing 20 different countries will take part in a Convention of European University Students which will reflect on the Encyclical Fides et Ratio, preparing for World Youth Day in Cologne and Erasmus and Socrates projects. Speakers will include Prof. Jean-Dominique Durand of Lyons University, Archbishop Rino Fisichella rector of the Lateran University, Bishop Marek Jedraszewski auxiliary of Poznan Poland, Bishop Mark Jabalè OSB of Menevia diocese in Wales, Father Federico Lombardi Director of the Vatican TV Centre, Mgr Lorenzo Leuzzi, head of university pastoral in Rome and co-ordinator of the European Committee of University Chaplains and many of the student participants. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 23/11/2004; Righe 24 - Parole 330)
