On 28 December the 45th Taize European Meeting started in Rostock. Young people from different Christian churches, languages and nationalities shared, prayed and strengthened brotherhood in this meeting. Pope Francis wrote to the participants, expressing his spiritual closeness, his encouragement and his love for him.
(Vatican News Network)Taize Group will hold the 45th European Year-End Party in Rostock, Germany from December 28 to New Year’s Eve 2023 with the theme “Inner Life, Unity and Communion”. Many Church personalities and political leaders sent letters to the young people present at the meeting, and on this occasion Pope Francis also expressed words of encouragement. In a letter signed by Archbishop Pena, Undersecretary of State for the Holy See, we read: “The Holy Father Pope wishes to express to you his spiritual presence and his love for you. After several years of epidemic, you can It is a great opportunity and a beautiful sign of hope to be together again”.
However, the world today faces new challenges, especially the return of war to the European continent. This is worrying and prompts everyone to reflect on how much they can contribute to the building of peace and fraternity. Archbishop Pena observed that the theme of the meeting “will lead them to choose to trust in God without losing faith in man” in the face of catastrophe. The Pope encourages them to make this choice. “Indeed, it is through prayer, the interior life and personal relationship with God that hope is kept alive and trust in God is renewed. And it is precisely through the practice of solidarity among people that To feel God’s strength to exercise in oneself to change the world”, and to increase this communion in the presence of the Lord”.
The Vatican undersecretary of state told the young people that God called them to be creative and to “resist the fear that holds us back.” Through the Holy Spirit, they “will be able to say ‘no’ to every form of injustice” and will develop the ability to say “yes”, “thus uniting to find solutions to today’s challenges”. This is why Pope Francis expects the whole Church to take the same path. “The Pope encourages you to take your rightful place in this process and invites you to pray for this intention,” wrote Archbishop Pena. At the end of the letter, Pope Francis imparted his apostolic blessing to the young people.
In addition to the Pope, Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, Pastor Burghart, secretary general of the World Federation of Lutheran Churches, and the secretary general of the United Nations Guterres also took part in this meeting of the Taizé group.
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