Just as he did a year earlier, Pope John Paul II drew tens of thousands of people --- mainly young people --- to St. Peter's Square for a nighttime vigil.

"He continues to be in our minds and in our hearts," Pope Benedict XVI told the crowd gathered in candlelight April 2 to mark the first anniversary of Pope John Paul's death.

"He continues to communicate to us his love for God and his love for humanity," Pope Benedict said.

A group of young Romans in the square when the pope died returned with a banner addressed to the late pope: "We are here with you. We are here to thank you."

The banner-maker, 27-year-old Bindu Casalini, said, "There were so many moments when he made us feel important. Rereading the words of John Paul, I feel he's still close. He's still important to me."

Her friend, Marco Iannotta, said: "It was like losing a member of the family. But he left us so much written down that it's like we can still dialogue with him."

Pope Benedict knelt in the window of his studio overlooking the square, reciting the rosary with an estimated 80,000 people who came to mark the anniversary.

Pope Benedict said that especially in how Pope John Paul accepted his weakening physical condition and death "he gave suffering dignity and value, testifying that a person does not have worth because of his efficiency or appearance, but for his self, because he was created and loved by God."

Jerzy Zolc of Lublin, Poland, was one of thousands of Poles who traveled to Rome to mark the anniversary by praying at the tomb of the Polish pope.

"I was here last year and when I left I wondered if I ever would come back. But I promised myself to be here on this night," he said. Pope John Paul "showed us the way to live."

Jay Mello of the Diocese of Fall River, Mass., was one of dozens of seminarians from the Pontifical North American College who were praying in the square when Pope John Paul died; they returned for the anniversary vigil.

"At Mass when we pray for 'Benedict, our pope' it still seems strange," he said. "It seemed right to come here tonight."

Pope Benedict also dedicated his midday Angelus address April 2 to Pope John Paul. The late pope's last hours, he said, were "a pilgrimage of faith, love and hope, which left a profound mark on the history of the church and humanity."

"John Paul II died as he always lived, animated by the indomitable courage of faith, abandoning himself to God and entrusting himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary," he said.

"In his last years, the Lord gradually stripped him of everything," Pope Benedict said. "When he could no longer travel and then not walk and finally not even speak, his gesture, his proclamation was reduced to the essential: to the gift of self until the last."

The anniversary was marked at parishes, cathedrals, concert halls and on television channels in Rome, Poland and around the world.

---CNS