José Luis: Juan Pablo II tus jóvenes lloran tu partida, te ofrecemos nuestro trabajo José Luis: Holy Father, your youth cries with your death, we offer you our work… José Luis: Heiliger Vater, deine Jugend trauert, weil du nicht mehr da bist, doch wir bieten dir unsere Arbeit an… Foto: POS Fischer © 2005

JPII, mkf. They came to Cologne to work for World Youth Day and to "see the Pope, John Paul II". Two youth: Manuel Mananes, from La Plata, Argentina and Jose Luis Fontclara Ferandez, from Asuncion, Paraguay, speak of their afftection for the Holy Father that is transformed into a commitment.

I came to Germany with the dream of attending the XX World Youth Day, with John Paul II. Today after a very difficult day, the Pope has departed to the Father. When we received the news, the reaction of all the volunteers was to run to Church and on our knees, with tears, anguish and embraces we began to pray the Rosary. The bells were tolling and I truly felt an enormous anxiety. I felt lost, it was a very strange experience. Until now I had lost very few persons who were close to me. I felt I had lost someone very close to me. And now what? Now it is our time. So that his death is nothing more than a transfer of his work and mission to us. He is the one who changed everything, who made the modern Church our Church, my Church, my house, my home...I do not know another Pope, until now I will have the opportunity to know the one the Lord sends as the best representative of Peter on earth, for the times in which we live...I am not afraid,I am sure He will send the right one...John Paul II taught the youth how important we are, he gave us our place,he gave us the opportunity to transform the Church into a living Church, young, vibrant, in many many places of the world..There is still so much to do! I still have five more months in the World Youth Day office, and I feel that although today my soul and my heart, cry bitterly, Monday, at 7:00 a..m. I will be in my office, doing my work so that in five months, Cologne will be inundated by youth who will strongly shout with the new Father of the Church, JOHN PAUL II: 'THE WHOLE WORLD LOVES YOU'...

Manuela Mananes, Girls' Youth from La Plata, Argentina

I am the voice of John Paul II

I am happy to be a part of the this mission of preparation of the first World Youth Day in which JPII is already giving us a helping hand from heaven..but we should be "HIS VOICE' Pope John Paul II taught us to make ourselves heard. He told us to be free, that to be a Christian is to live the faith freely, even if we are tied by hand and feet, even if exteriorly we are prisoners, by his death and resurrection Jesus gave us inner freedom and the necessary forgiveness to recuperate eternal life. The Pope has been an example in many aspects, but without a doubt, although the laity does not recognize it as such, he has succeeded in bringing back thousands and thousands of youth who had strayed from the faith back to the Church. That they would again feel loved and cherished by God the Father.

He convoked the youth and made them a part...he listened to them and he gave them a voice so that they could shout "Abba, Father, with all their heart...so that they could be the next generation of adults capable of living as Christ...

He knew that the best way to love was to understand the generational changes, the new necessities, but he never compromised his intrinsic values and what he considered essential to Christianity, he was a balanced man, he was a wise man...

Today I see World Youth Day as something even greater, more important, more profound. I feel I have received an invaluable inheritance, an inheritance that cost John Paul II a lot to forge, that I feel responsible to conserve it and to transmit it to all those who want to know who Jesus was... Because someone like John Paul II left everything for Him and he suffered everything out of love for Him. Finally, I want to to say that my personal feeling in respect to World Youth Day is as follows: Until now we had a loving, tender and caring FATHER who urged us to keep meeting as youth...today we are the ones who should INVITE the new Pope to share this event of World Youth Day with us. I feel that for me it will be like saying to our new Pope: "Hello, welcome to being the new Father for this grand Youth that John Paul II loved so much...we promise as youth not to defraud Christ, and as sons of the apostolate of John Paul II we will be defenders of freedom and of love. As future fathers of the generation of the youth of tomorrow, whom you and others will lead as pastors, we offer all we have today, since, "Christ never came down from the Cross", So that with our example and opening our arms wide, full of love and hope, we will transmit to them and the world, the legacy of such a great man and pastor."

Manuela Mananes, Girls' Youth from La Plata, Argentina

A letter to the Holy Father

In the office of the World Youth Day in Cologne, the feeling of sadness invaded all the rooms, there is a sense of emptiness and insecurity...we do not have a Pope for World Youth Day, without a doubt, today we do our work in his honor, today we dedicate it to him. And just as Friday we prayed for his health in the General Vicarship of Cologne, today we do it so that God will receive him in heaven. John Paul II your youth cry your departure, we offer you our work and we are going to miss you at the World Youth Day, your presence will be alive in our hearts...

Jose Luis Fontclara
Representative of Schoenstatt Paraguay in the World Youth Day Office

Translation: Celina M. Garza, Harlingen, Texas, USA