WASHINGTON (CNS): A sea of color met the eye at the Verizon Center sports arena in Washington on January 22 as more than 20,000 young people from around the country filled all the seats for the annual Rally for Life and Youth Mass, celebrated by Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl.
Numerous cardinals, bishops, rectors and priests from near and far also concelebrated the Mass, standing on the platform – set up like a stage -on the floor of the Verizon Center.
Occupying the center seats were rows of seminarians dressed in black.
In addition to the traditional rally and Mass, youths attending this year received a special surprise: a personal message from Pope Benedict XVI, read by the apostolic nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Pietro Sambi.
In the message, the pope expressed his gratitude for the youths’ commitment to life and said he looked forward to his visit to the United States.
He will be in Washington April 15-17 and in New York April 18-20.
The message also said, “The Holy Father sees a radiant sign of hope for the future in this yearly witness to the Gospel of life.”
At the start of the Mass, Archbishop Wuerl said the thousands and thousands of young people were gathered there to celebrate “the great gift of life.”
He said people must not only work to change laws to protect human life in all its stages, but they also must work to change “the hearts of our brothers and sisters.”
