亲爱的青年人！
1.每年的世界青年日，我有机会给你们一个特别信息，令我感到非常欣慰，藉此可表达我对你们的由衷之情。我还清楚记得，我们在历届世界青年日会面时的情况：青年人与教宗一起，和主教、神父们共聚一堂，瞻仰世界的真光──基督，同声向祂呼号，并向全人类大家庭宣讲基督。不久前，你们在多伦多为自己的信仰作了见证，为此我感谢天主，也愿向你们重申我在安大略湖畔所提出的邀请：「教会对你们充满信心，盼望你们成为真福的一族！」（多伦多展览场馆，二○○二年七月廿五日）。
我为这次全球各教区分别举行的第十八届世界青年日选定了一个与「玫瑰经年」相关的主题：「看，你的母亲！」（若十九27）。耶稣离世前，把祂最珍爱的一位托付给若望宗徒：即自己的母亲玛利亚。这句话是救主最后的遗言，因此尤其郑重，成为祂的精神遗嘱。
2. 佳播天使在纳匝肋所说的「万福，充满恩宠者」（路一28）这句话，使加尔瓦略的景象格外彰明较着。在天使报喜时，玛利亚在腹中授给天主子人性；但在十字架下，她在若望身上把整个人类迎纳到自己心里。在圣言降孕的一刻，她随即成了天主之母；在她圣子耶稣生命的最后时刻，却成了全人类的母亲。她原是无罪的，但在加尔瓦略山时，她在自己身上「认识」了罪恶所带来的痛苦，而她的圣子更为拯救世人而肩负了他们的罪过。玛利亚站在悬挂耶稣的十字架下，这正是她在领报时说了「是」而怀孕的那位，而今仿如从耶稣那里接受「第二次领报」：「女人，看，你的儿子！」（若十九26）。
在十字架上的圣子，祂把自己的痛苦投注于母亲心中。每个受苦的儿子都有此需要。你们亦然，亲爱的青年，你们也面对着痛苦：孤独，生命中的挫败和失意；进入成人世界及职业生涯所遇到的困难；家庭内的离别和凄伤；战争的暴力和无辜者的死亡。但你们要知道，当遭逢生命中免不了的困难时，你们并非孤独无助：就如耶稣对待站在十字架下的若望一样，祂也把自己的母亲赐给你们，她要慈爱地安慰、扶持你们。
3. 福音接着说：「就从那时起，那门徒把她接到自己家里」（若十九27）。对这句话，教会自古以来有过很多的诠释，它不是仅指若望所居住的地方。它除了是物质上的地方，还更是指接待的精神，即玛利亚与若望之间所建立的新关系。
亲爱的青年们，你们与若望当时的年纪相仿，也与他一样切愿与耶稣在一起。今天，基督明确地要求你们，接玛利亚到「你们的家里」，接纳她一如「你们的母亲」，学习她「把一切默存在自己心中，反复思想」（路二19）。圣母时时用心聆听，她谦逊和慷慨的心灵，获得天主的钟爱，成为天主救恩工程上的首位合作者。她要实践她的母职：教导你们、塑造你们，直到基督完全在你们内形成为止（见《童贞玛利亚的玫瑰经》15）。
4. 为此缘故，今天我愿重申那句写在我的主教及宗座牧徽上的铭言：「我全属于你」（Totus tuus）。一直以来，我常在自己的生命中体验到天主之母慈爱而确切的临在。圣母玛利亚每天陪伴我，帮助我履行伯得禄继承人的职务和使命。
玛利亚是「天主诸宠之母」，因为她孕育了诸宠之源。你们要全心依赖她！你们必会反映出基督祂那光辉灿烂的美善。你们要开放自己，接受圣神的嘘气，你们必能成为大无畏的宗徒，以爱德和真理之光照亮你们四周的人。师法玛利亚，你们便会体认基督期望你们完成的具体任务；你们要努力让基督成为你们生命中的第一，把一切思想和行动都导向祂。
亲爱的青年们，你们都知道：基督信仰并非一个意念，也不在于空泛的言词。基督信仰在于基督！祂是真实的一位，祂是生活的一位！与耶稣交往，爱慕祂和使人爱慕祂：这正是基督徒的圣召。你们以玛利亚为母亲，就是在她的帮助下，与耶稣建立起一个更真实和更个别的关系。玛利亚以她的榜样教导你们，用爱的目光注视着基督，因为是祂先爱了我们。圣母以她的转祷，使你们有门徒的心怀，倾听她的圣子，接受祂向你们启示的天父的真实面容以及人性的尊严。
5. 二○○二年十月十六日，我宣布了「玫瑰经年」的开始，并邀请教会全体子民，透过这古老的敬礼圣母的祈祷，与圣母一起诚朴地、深刻地瞻仰基督的面容。诵念玫瑰经就是学习以耶稣母亲的目光去注视祂，并以耶稣母亲的心去爱祂。亲爱的青年，今天我把玫瑰念珠在精神上交托给你们。透过这项祈祷和默想奥迹，圣母玛利亚将稳妥地引导你们走向她的圣子！你们不要羞于诵念玫瑰经，你们可以在上学途中，在大学校园里或工作岗位上，走在街上或乘坐交通工具时诵念；你们要习惯在同侪中，在你们的小组、活动或善会里诵念；不要怕向自己的父母和兄弟姊妹提议在家中一起诵念，因为玫瑰经能更新和强固家庭成员间的关系。这项祈祷能加深你们的信德，帮助你们恒心持守爱德，在喜乐和坚忍中全心仰望天主。
与上主的婢女玛利亚一起，你们会发现默观生活的喜乐和丰盈。你们与主的这位杰出的门徒一起，在巴力斯坦的街道上追随耶稣，你们便能为祂的宣讲和奇迹作见证。你们与这位忧苦之母一起，便能在耶稣的苦难圣死中，陪伴在祂的左右。你们与这位望德坚固的贞女一起，便可听到复活的喜乐宣报，并领受无法估计的圣神恩赐。
6. 亲爱的青年们，只有耶稣洞悉你们的心灵，和你们最隐微的愿望。惟有祂为爱你们而甘愿受苦受死（见若十三1），满全你们的期望。祂的话是永生的话，能使生命充满意义。除了基督，无人能赐给你们真正的幸福。你们步武玛利亚的芳踪，便知道如何向天主说出你们无条件的「是」。在你们的生命里，不应再有自私和怠惰。今天较已往更为迫切的是，你们要成为「期待黎明的守卫」，要致力宣布曙光和福音新春的来临。人类迫切需要勇敢和自由的青年人所作的见证，敢于冒险犯难，不随波逐流，以满怀的热情、坚定地宣认自己对主、天主和救主的信仰。
亲爱的朋友们，你们也知道这使命并不易为。若我们只靠自己的力量，将不可能做到。但「在人所不能的，在天主是可能的」（路十八27; 一37）。基督的真实门徒，深知自己的软弱。为此，他们全心依恃天主的圣宠，因为离开天主便什么也不能成就（若十五5）。他们与世人之不同，不是因为他们有特殊的才干或天赋，而是跟随基督的坚决心志。你们要效法他们，就如他们效法基督一样！但愿天主「光照你们心灵的眼目，为叫你们认清祂的宠召有什么希望，在圣徒中祂嗣的光荣，是怎样丰厚；祂对我们虔信的人，所施展的强有力而见效的德能，是怎样的伟大」（弗一18-19）。
7. 亲爱的青年们，相信你们都知道，我们下一次全球性的聚会将于二○○五年举行，地点是德国的科隆市、科隆教区。虽然现在言之尚早，但善用这聚会前的两年时间，可让我们作出积极准备。我特别选出以下的主题，来帮助大家善作预备：
－二○○四年第十九届普世青年节：「我们想拜见耶稣」（若十二21）；
－二○○五年第二十届普世青年节：「我们特来朝拜祂」（玛二2）。
此刻你们要在自己的堂区参与圣枝主日礼仪：在这些「持续培育」的机会上，你们要以祈祷、专心聆听和乐于分享，勉力履行自己的本份，表现出热切和虔诚的信德！你们要像三位贤士一样，怀着找寻默西亚及朝拜祂的热望，不惜长途跋涉。你们要勇敢地向人宣告，死而复活的基督得胜了罪恶和死亡！
在这个饱受暴力、仇恨和战乱摧残的时代，你们要向世人作见证：惟独基督能带给个人、家庭和世界各民族真正的和平。你们要致力寻求和平，促进世界的和平、正义和友爱。切勿忘记福音的教导：「缔造和平的人是有福的，因为他们要称为天主的子女」（玛五9）。
我把你们托付给童贞玛利亚──基督之母和教会之母，并以特别的宗座遐福伴随你们，作为我所怀具的信心和对你们的热爱之情的确证。
若望保禄二世
二○○三年三月八日发自梵蒂冈
下为文告英文版：
My dear young people!
1. It always gives me great joy to address a special message to you on the occasion of World Youth Day. It is also a way to show you the extent of my affection for you. The vivid recollection of my experiences during our World Youth Day meetings is impressed on my memory: young people and the Pope together, and a large gathering of bishops and priests, all with our gaze on Christ, light of the world, invoking him and proclaiming him to the entire human family. While I give thanks to God for the witness of faith that you have given once again recently in Toronto, I renew the invitation I made to you on the banks of Lake Ontario: "the Church today looks to you with confidence and expects you to be the people of the Beatitudes!" (Exhibition Place, 25 July 2002; ORE, 31 July 2002, p. 6).
For the 18th World Youth Day that will be celebrated in dioceses all over the world, I have chosen a theme related to the Year of the Rosary: "Behold, your mother!" (Jn 19,27). Before his death, Jesus entrusted to the apostle John what was most precious to him: his Mother, Mary. These are the final words of the Redeemer, and therefore they take on a solemn nature and could be regarded as his spiritual testimony.
2. The angel Gabriel's words in Nazareth: "Hail, full of grace" (Lk 1,28) also cast light on the scene at Calvary. The Annunciation comes at the beginning, the Cross signals the fulfilment. At the Annunciation, Mary gives human nature to the Son of God within her womb; at the foot of the Cross, she welcomes the whole of humanity within her heart in the person of John. She was Mother of God from the first moments of the Incarnation, and she became the Mother of humanity during the final moments of the life of her Son Jesus on earth. She, who was without sin, on Calvary "experienced" within her own being the suffering of sin that her Son had taken upon himself to save humankind. At the foot of the Cross on which was dying the One whom she had conceived at the moment of her "yes" at the Annunciation, Mary received, as it were, a "second annunciation": "Woman, behold, your son!" (Jn 19,26).
The Son upon the Cross can pour out his suffering into his Mother's heart. Every child who suffers experiences that need. You too, my dear young people, are faced with suffering: loneliness, failures and disappointments in your personal lives; difficulties in inserting yourselves in the adult world and in professional life: the separations and losses in your families; the violence of war and the death of the innocent. Know, however, that in difficult times, which everyone experiences, you are not alone: like John at the foot of the Cross, Jesus also gives his Mother to you so that she will comfort you with her tenderness.
3. It says in the Gospel that "from that hour the disciple took her to his own home (Jn 19,27). This statement, the subject of many commentaries since early Christian times, does not simply point out the place where John lived. Beyond the material aspect, it evokes the spiritual dimension of this welcome and of the new bond established between Mary and John.
My dear young people, you are more or less the same age as John and you have the same desire to be with Jesus. Today, it is you whom Jesus expressly asks to receive Mary "into your home" and to welcome her "as one of yours"; to learn from her the one who "kept all these things, pondering them in her heart" (Lk 2,19) that inner disposition to listen and the attitude of humility and generosity that singled her out as God's first collaborator in the work of salvation. She will discharge her ministry as a mother and train you and mould you until Christ is fully formed in you (cf. Rosarium Virginis Mariae, n. 15).
4. This is why I now wish to repeat the motto of my episcopal and pontifical service: "Totus tuus". Throughout my life I have experienced the loving and forceful presence of the Mother of Our Lord. Mary accompanies me every day in the fulfilment of my mission as Successor of Peter.
Mary is Mother of divine grace, because she is the Mother of the Author of grace. Entrust yourselves to her with complete confidence! You will be radiant with the beauty of Christ. Open up to the breath of the Spirit, and you will become courageous apostles, capable of spreading the fire of charity and the light of truth all around you. In Mary's school, you will discover the specific commitment that Christ expects of you, and you will learn to put Christ first in your lives, and to direct your thoughts and actions to him.
Dear young people, you know that Christianity is not an opinion nor does it consist of empty words. Christianity is Christ! It is a Person, a Living Person! To meet Jesus, to love him and make him loved: this is the Christian vocation. Mary was given to you to help you enter into a more authentic and more personal relationship with Jesus. Through her example, Mary teaches you to gaze on him with love, for He has loved us first. Through her intercession, she forms in you a disciple's heart able to listen to her Son, who reveals the face of his Father and the true dignity of the human person.
5. On 16 October 2002 I proclaimed the "Year of the Rosary", and I invited all the children of the Church to make of this ancient Marian prayer a simple and profound exercise in contemplation of the face of Christ. To recite the Rosary means to learn to gaze on Jesus with his Mother's eyes, and to love Jesus with his Mother's heart. Today, my dear young people, I am also, in spirit, handing you the Rosary beads. Through prayer and meditation on the mysteries, Mary leads you safely towards her Son! Do not be ashamed to recite the Rosary alone, while you walk along the streets to school, to the university or to work, or as you commute by public transport. Adopt the habit of reciting it among yourselves, in your groups, movements and associations. Do not hesitate to suggest that it be recited at home by your parents and brothers and sisters, because it rekindles and strengthens the bonds between family members. This prayer will help you to be strong in your faith, constant in charity, joyful and persevering in hope.
With Mary, the handmaiden of the Lord, you will discover the joy and fruitfulness of the hidden life. With her, disciple of the Master, you will follow Jesus along the streets of Palestine, becoming witnesses of his preaching and his miracles. With her, the sorrowful Mother, you will accompany Jesus in his passion and death. With her, Virgin of hope, you will welcome the festive Easter proclamation and the priceless gift of the Holy Spirit.
6. My dear young people, only Jesus knows what is in your hearts and your deepest desires. Only He, who has loved you to the end (cf. Jn 13,1), can fulfil your aspirations. His are words of eternal life, words that give meaning to life. No one apart from Christ can give you true happiness. By following the example of Mary, you should know how to give Him your unconditional "yes". There is no place in your lives for selfishness or laziness. Now more than ever it is crucial that you be "watchers of the dawn", the lookouts who announce the light of dawn and the new springtime of the Gospel of which the buds can already be seen. Humanity is in urgent need of the witness of free and courageous young people who dare to go against the tide and proclaim with vigour and enthusiasm their personal faith in God, Lord and Saviour.
You are also aware, my dear friends, that this mission is not easy. It becomes absolutely impossible if one counts only on oneself. But "what is impossible with men is possible for God" (Lk 18,27; 1,37).
True disciples of Christ are conscious of their own weakness. For this reason they put all their trust in the grace of God and they accept it with undivided hearts, convinced that without Him they can do nothing (cf. Jn 15,5). What characterises them and distinguishes them from others is not their talents or natural gifts. It is their firm determination to proceed as followers of Jesus. May you be imitators of them as they were of Christ! "May the eyes of your heart be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, in accord with the exercise of his great might" (Eph 1,18-19).
7. My dear young people, the next World Meeting will be held, as you know, in Germany in 2005 in the city and diocese of Cologne. The road is still long, but the two years that separate us from that appointment can serve as a time of intense preparation. To help you on this path, I have chosen the following themes for you:
- 2004: 19th World Youth Day: "We wish to see Jesus" (Jn 12,21);
- 2005: 20th World Youth Day: "We have come to worship him" (Mt 2,2).
Meanwhile, you will meet in your local Church on Palm Sunday: live this experience with commitment, in prayer, in attentive listening and joyful sharing in these opportunities for "ongoing learning", and showing your lively devout faith! Like the Magi, you too should be pilgrims stimulated by the desire to find the Messiah and to adore Him! Courageously proclaim that Christ, who died and is risen, has vanquished evil and death!
In these times threatened by violence, hatred and war, you must witness that he and he alone can give true peace to the heart of individuals, families and peoples on this earth. Commit yourselves to seeking and promoting peace, justice and fellowship. Do not forget the words of the Gospel: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God" (Mt 5,9).
As I entrust you to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church, I accompany you with a special Apostolic Blessing, sign of my trust and demonstration of my affection for you all.
From the Vatican, 8 March 2003.