Cardinal encourages Spanish young people to live Christianity as a “passionate adventure”

Madrid, Spain, Jul 26, 2004 / 22:00 pm

During the celebration of the feast of St. James the Apostle, Patron of Spain, the Archbishop of Madrid and President of the Bishops Conference of Spain, Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela encouraged the more than 1,300 young people present in the Cathedral of Oviedo to follow the example of the apostles who lived the “passionate adventure” of Christianity.

Cardinal Rouco celebrated Mass with the young people, with whom he began a pilgrimage on Tuesday to Santiago from the Asturian town of Navia.

During his homily, the Cardinal emphasized the important role of young people in the Church and the today’s world, and he warned them that because of their faith “in many cases you will be criticized, persecuted and told you are wrong.”  He exhorted them to follow the example of the apostles, “twelve young people who began a passionate adventure.”

Despite the fact that the Catholic faith is “questioned and relativized, the Christian revolution shall not pass away,” he added.

Cardinal Rouco will lead the young people on pilgrimage following the Way of St. James to Compostela, where they will participate in the European Youth Days, which will take place August 4-7, in anticipation of World Youth Day 2005 in Cologne, Germany.

He called the experience “a personal revolution which is physically tiring but spiritually comforting.”