Cologne, Germany - In back-to-back encounters with more than a million young people from around the world, Pope Benedict XVI urged them to discover the transforming power of the faith and join the “true revolution” of personal holiness. At a World Youth Day vigil August 20 and a closing Mass the next day, the pope preached about the inspiration of the saints and the mystery of the Eucharist, encouraging the youths to change themselves if they want to change the world.

“Only from the saints, only from God does true revolution come,” he told a vast candlelit crowd spread across a field outside Cologne. The pope was presiding for the first time over World Youth Day, and he did so in a solemn and dignified style. At the vigil, he sat quietly as he watched liturgical dancing and listened to Scripture readings. At the end of the long evening, Pope Benedict led the crowd in adoration of the Eucharist. He retold the simple story of the Wise Men who found Jesus in a manger, thus discovering an unworldly kind of power. His emphasis on the saints - old ones like St. Francis of Assisi and more recent like Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta - resonated with many in his young audience.

Washington - Labor Day is a time to reflect on the teaching of Pope John Paul II on work and workers, according to the chairman of the bishops’ domestic policy committee in the annual Labor Day statement of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

The first Labor Day since the death of Pope John Paul II “is a good time to recall the constant teaching of the Pope,” said Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio. Pope John Paul said that trade unions have “the Church’s defense and approval,” and that unions are an “indispensable element of social life, especially in modern industrial societies.” Pope Benedict XVI, has affirmed this teaching, insisting it is“necessary to witness in contemporary society to the ‘Gospel of Work,’ of which John Paul II spoke in his encyclical Laborem Exercens.”

“However, on Labor Day 2005, there are some daunting challenges to how we live ‘the Gospel of Work,’ and how we respect the dignity of work and the rights of workers today,” Bishop DiMarzio said. “In this

economy many are moving forward, reaping the rewards of their education, skills and hard work. Others can be left behind, hungry, homeless, or poor, often struggling with rent or paying for decent health insurance. Families in the middle can be one lost job, one major illness, one unanti-cipated setback away from serious economic trouble. As their children grow, parents are faced with balancing the costs of education and saving for their own retirement. Too many families find it difficult to reconcile the demands of work, the duties of family life, and the obligations of community and spiritual life.”

Copies of the Labor Day statement are available from the USCCB Office of Domestic Social Development, (202) 541-3185, or www.usccb.org/sdwp.