Vatican City (Fides Service) - “Intellectual and scientific research, a way to meet Christ” is the chosen theme for European University Day, promoted by the University-Catechesis Office of the Council of European Episcopal Conferences (CCEE). This Day will be celebrated throughout the European continent on Saturday 5 March. The aim of this annual Day, the Third of its kind, is to respond to the extraordinary Magisterium of John Paul II, who called on the university communities, as centres of scientific research, of producing knowledge and the cultural and professional formation of the young generations, to build a new humanism which proposes once again the Christian roots of Europe by bringing them out into the open.
The key moment of the Day will be the involvement of students and university professors who, from 1730, will participate in the Marian Vigil with the Pope.10,000 university students will gather for the recitation of the Rosary in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican and thousands of others will gather in the cathedrals of Bari, Berlin, Bucharest, Kiev, Lisbon, Madrid, Tirana, Zagreb and at the sanctuaries of Our Lady of Victories at Kensington (London), and Nostra Signora della Guardia in Genoa. Pope John Paul II will lead the prayer in Rome while the various national gatherings, linked via satellite with the Paul VI Hall, will be led by Cardinals and Archbishops of the respective countries. During the Vigil copies of the Encyclical “Fides et Ratio” will be distributed to the students. To mark the Day, the Pontifical Lateran University will be holding a European Workshop for University Professors from 4-6 March 2005 on the theme: “Intellectual research, a way to meet Christ. The teaching of the Encyclical Fides et Ratio”.”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 24/2/2005 - Righe 20; Parole 250)