Here is a translation of the Holy Father's words before saying the Angelus today:
Brothers and sisters!
A delegation of German youth will shortly turn over to their Australian colleagues the Cross of World Youth Day. It is the Cross which the beloved John Paul II entrusted to the youth in 1984 so that they may carry it through the world as a sign of Christ’s love for humanity.
I greet Cardinal Joachim Meisner, Archbishop of Cologne, and Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, who wanted to be present at this very significant moment.
Handing over the Cross after each world encounter, has become a tradition in the true sense of
traditio, a transmission that is highly symbolic, to be lived with great faith, committing oneself to a pilgrimage of conversion in the footsteps of Christ.
This faith is taught us by the Most Holy Mary who was the first to “believe” and who bore her own Cross together with her Son, to share with Him thereafter the joy of Resurrection. And so the Cross is accompanied by an icon of the Virgin, which reproduces that of
Maria Salus Populi Romani (Mary health of the Roman peoples) venerated in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, the oldest basilica in the West that is dedicated to the Madonna.
The Cross and the Marian Icon of the World Youth Days, after making stops in some countries of Africa – to show the nearness of Christ and his Mother to the peoples of that continent who have been tried by so much suffering – will be welcomed next February in various regions of Oceania, after which it will visit all the dioceses of Australia before finally reaching Sydney in July 2008. It is a spiritual pilgrimage that involves the entire Christian community but especially the youth.
After the Angelus, he said the following in English:
I greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors here this Palm Sunday, when we acclaim Jesus, model of humility, our Messiah and King. In a special way I greet Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, and the young Australians with him. May they be assured of the support and spiritual accompaniment of all of us, as they prepare to host World Youth Day 2008. Upon each of you present and your families, I invoke God’s blessings of strength and wisdom.