Pope Benedict XVI: 'Searching for someone who can offer a certainty to live for'

From a speech given by the Pope to youth at the Welcoming Feast for World Youth Day in Cologne

Today, I recall with deep gratitude the Servant of God so greatly loved by us all, Pope John Paul II. He loved you - and you returned his love. Now we have to put his teaching into practice. This commitment has brought us here, as pilgrims in the footsteps of the Magi. We are no longer looking for a king, but are concerned for the state of the world and are asking: "Where do I find standards to live by? To whom shall I entrust myself?"

Asking such questions means searching for Someone who can neither deceive nor be deceived, and who can offer a certainty so solid that we can live for it and, if need be, even die for it.

I repeat today what I said at the beginning of my Pontificate: "If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence revealed."

I encourage you to commit yourselves without reserve to serving Christ. Let us raise our hearts in thanksgiving to the Father for the gift of faith which we will celebrate together in this land in the heart of Europe, a Europe which owes so much to the Gospel and its witnesses.

Now I shall go as a pilgrim to the Cathedral of Cologne, to venerate the relics of the holy Magi who left everything to follow the star which guided them to the Saviour of the human race. These relics direct us towards God himself: it is he who grants weak human beings the courage to bear witness to him before the world. The relics of the saints are traces of that presence which reveals the Kingdom of Heaven in our midst. They cry out with us and for us: "Maranatha!" - "Come, Lord Jesus!"

My dear friends, I make these words my farewell, and I invite you to the Saturday evening Vigil. I shall see you then!