On the occasion of Benedict XVI’s traditional Christmas meeting with university students, a World Youth Day icon was returned to Rome from Madrid. The image of the Virgin Mary Sedes Sapientiae (Seat of Wisdom) traveled throughout Spain in preparation for the 2011 WYD.
Spanish Father Ángel Alba, staff member of the Vicariate of Rome’s university ministry, spoke to ZENIT about the importance of this event.
The icon was returned by a delegation from Madrid and a group of Spanish students in Rome. The Spanish chaplain explained that there are “four professors, a chaplain and some university students of Madrid, and together with them a numerous group of ‘Erasmus’ Spaniards [university students who enjoy an Erasmus scholarship to study in a European country] who are here in Rome. Some of them take part in movements of the Church, such as the Neo-Catechumens and other types of associations, Catholic Action, etc.. And on learning that this event existed, they gladly got together to pray and to be with other university students.”
Reflecting on the fruits of Madrid’s World Youth Day, Father Alba said: “I think that we have yet to digest all that the WYD implies for the Church in Spain in general. Just think that it is an event that also touches small villages where youth ministry has had no attraction and that, because of this event, because of the possibility of receiving people from other countries, such as Latin America, etc., have seen a particular enthusiasm resurrected.”
“I say that not enough time has yet passed to be able to make a more precise evaluation,” he said. But, he proposed, “the fruit is about to be gathered and I think it will be good, rich and abundant.”
ROME, DEC. 16, 2011 (Zenit.org)