Here is the translation of the message sent by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, on behalf of the Holy Father to the Taizé Community on the occasion of their 27th European meeting in Prague.
* * *
Dear Young People,
Coming from the whole of Europe and also from other continents, you are gathered at Prague for the 37th European meeting organized by Taizé Community. At Prague, and during the year 2015 at Taizé, you are going to seek ways, through prayer and dialogue with one another, to be the salt of the earth. Pope Francis encourages you greatly in this search. There you will discover the surprising trust Christ places in you. Do not let yourselves be overwhelmed by your limitations and your poverty. Through his Spirit, present in you, Christ makes you the salt of the earth. Look to him to receive what He asks of you. He comes to give the world its true flavor by enabling it to discover the beauty of communion with God and between brothers and sisters.
While the Czech Republic celebrates the 25 years since its return to democracy, prayers do not forget in your the Martyrs and Confessors of the faith; men and women of good will who made possible, by the selfless gift of themselves, and sometimes at the price of great sufferings, their country’s rediscovery of the path to freedom. You are also invited to open paths of freedom, by giving yourselves with the willingness that Mary had at Nazareth, when she received in herself the life of the Son of God. It is this life that is called to be spread also in you.
The Pope has confidence in your imagination and creativity so that the joy of the Gospel is proclaimed and heard today in your different countries. “It is lovely that young people are ‘pilgrims of the faith,’ happy to bring Jesus to every street, every place, every corner of the earth!” (Evangelii Gaudium, 106).
As the Holy Father said during his trip to Turkey, when making reference to you Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant young people, who come together in the international meetings organized by the Community of Taizé: “they are the ones who today ask us to take steps forward toward full communion” (to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, November 30, 2014).
From the bottom of his heart, the Holy Father blesses you, the young participants in the meeting, the Brothers of Taizé, as well as the pastors and all the persons who welcome you at Prague and in the surrounding villages.
[Translation by ZENIT]
