Today, Palm Sunday, the Church celebrates the 21 st World Youth Day. Last year's international World Youth Day was held in Cologne Germany.

Pope Benedict will preside over Mass in St Peter's Square and the local celebration of World Youth Day. Youths from Germany will hand the World Youth Day cross to youths from Australia , hosts of the 2008 celebration.

The theme of this year's celebration is a verse from Psalm 119 [118]: “ Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path ” . In his message on the occasion Pope Benedict urges young people to “become familiar with the Bible, and have it at hand so that it can be your compass pointing out the road to follow. By reading it, you will learn to know Christ.”

The pope, as he has done on other occasions, emphasised the importance of lectio divina : “A time-honoured way to study and savour the word of God is lectio divina which constitutes a real and veritable spiritual journey marked out in stages.

After the lectio , which consists of reading and rereading a passage from Sacred Scripture and taking in the main elements, we proceed to meditatio. This is a moment of interior reflection in which the soul turns to God and tries to understand what his word is saying to us today. Then comes oratio in which we linger to talk with God directly. Finally we come to contemplatio.

This helps us to keep our hearts attentive to the presence of Christ whose word is ‘ a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts ' (2 Pet 1:19 ). Reading , study and meditation of the Word should then flow into a life of consistent fidelity to Christ and his teachings.”

The pope's message also set out the themes of the World Youth Days leading to the celebration in Australia in 2008.

“This year our attention will focus on the Holy Spirit, Spirit of Truth , who reveals Christ to us, the Word made flesh, opening the heart of each one to the Word of salvation that leads to the fullness of Truth. Next year, 2007, we will meditate on a verse from the Gospel of John: ‘ Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another ' ( 13:34 ).

We will discover more about the Holy Spirit, Spirit of Love, who infuses divine charity within us and makes us aware of the material and spiritual needs of our brothers and sisters. We will finally reach the world meeting of 2008 and its theme will be: ‘ You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses ' (Acts 1:8).

The full text of the Pope's message is available on the Holy See website: http://www.vatican.va/gmg/documents/gmg_2006_en.html .