Holy Father,
We are university students from 30 different countries. We come from diverse cultures, not all of which are Catholic or Christian; but we wish to write the Pope to express gratitude which we all share in common.
Thank you, Holy Father, for these five years of your Pontificate, in a commission of service and search for the truth. Thank you for your gatherings with young people: We thank you in the name of millions of young men and women who have been able to hear your words in Cologne, Krakow, Sao Paolo, Loreto, New York, Sydney, Paris, Yaoundé, Luanda, Prague… Thank you for your untiring service and for your example of openness and dialogue which you constantly offer us, to search out the truth of things.
Thank you for having invoked this Year of the Priest for the Church and for the world. We notice that many have taken advantage of some episodes that are painful for the Church and for the Pope, to spread doubts and suspicion. To these sowers of doubt we wish to say with clarity that we do not accept their ideology. We hold respect for them, but we demand from them respect for our faith and the recognition of the right that we have to live as Christians in a pluralist society.
Each one of us, including those who do not have the gift of faith, know in a personal way countless priests, university chaplains, parish priests, spiritual directors and confessors. We know them first hand, not by way of newspapers, and we are grateful to them for their constant presence, availability, self-sacrifice, and openness to everyone. To all of them, and above all to the Pope, we wish to say: thank you!
Thank you, your Holiness, for the courage with which you invite the faithful of the Church to follow Christ with a total gift of self, without “allowing oneself to be intimidated by the bickering of reigning opinions.” We thank God that He has given his flock a Shepherd that from the very first moment has declared the Church as young and alive as ever.
Also in the name of thousands of our colleagues, we wish to express that we are with you, Holy Father, through our prayer, our affections, and our daily work. We ask you to bless our studies, our families, and the friendships we form with God and with others, in the university, in our volunteer work, our sports and in our rest.
Please accept our thanks and our most affectionate congratulations for these first five years as the Vicar of Christ!
Robert Weber (Austria)
President of the UNIV Congress 2010
