Dear Young People, 1. The heart of the Bishop of Rome turns to you who feel a call to follow Christ in the ministerial priesthood or in the consecrated life. You are gathered before Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Every cathedral is a place that bears a special meaning.
It is the centre of the diocesan Church, the seat of the Bishop, entrusted with bringing together in unity all the local communities. In fact, it is around the Bishops, the Successors of the Apostles, that the Church is built, with Christ as the cornerstone. May your first response before the Lord be to give thanks to him for your families and for the Christian communities which have helped you and sustained you by their presence and prayer in your human growth and in the maturation of your vocation. The necessary premise of apostolic ministry and the consecrated life is your spiritual formation, by which your personality and your lives are unified. You will discover the importance of prayer for the Church and the world.