VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Preparing children for their first Communion must be done with both great zeal and moderation, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Around the world, many children receive their first Communion during the Easter season, he told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square April 22 for the recitation of the “Regina Coeli,” a Marian prayer used in place of the Angelus from Easter to Pentecost.

The pope urged “priests, parents and catechists to prepare for this feast of faith well, with great fervor but also with sobriety. For many of the faithful, this day continues to be memorable as the moment when, even if in a rudimentary way, they first came to understand the importance of a personal encounter with Jesus,” he said quoting from his 2007 document on the Eucharist, “Sacramentum Caritatis” (“The Sacrament of Charity”).

He stressed the importance of first Communion and prayed that Mary would help everyone listen to God’s word with greater attention and “take part worthily” in Communion in order to become “witnesses of the new humanity.”