Pope Urges Students Toward Service

April 5, 2007

Tags: Pope, Service, University

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 4, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI greeted university students gathered for an annual conference sponsored by Opus Dei, and encouraged them to foster a spirit of service.

The Pope encouraged the young people of the UNIV congress with a quote from Opus Dei's founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá: "'How I like that word: service. […] I really wish we Christians knew how to serve, for only by serving can we know and love Christ and make him known and loved.'"

The Holy Father greeted the students after today's general audience held in St. Peter's Square.

The university congress is focusing this year on the theme "To Be, to Appear, to Communicate: Fashions and Social Models in Movies and Television."

"Dear friends," the Pontiff told them, "may these days in Rome be for you all an opportunity for a profound ecclesial experience, that you may return to your homes animated by the desire to serve Christ and your fellows more generously."

Almost 5,000 students are participating in six-day gathering which ends Sunday. The UNIV conferences began in 1968, inspired and encouraged by Monsignor Escrivá.

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