Hundreds of thousands of young people from around the world gathered in Madrid, Spain for the opening Mass of World Youth Day 2011. “The day that we’ve been waiting for has arrived, Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, said as he welcomed the crowd. “These will be days you will never Read more
Priests from Madrid’s poorest parishes are criticising the cost of Pope Benedict’s visit to Madrid for World Youth Day, (WYD2011.) “The Priests’ Forum” estimates the cost of the visit, not counting security, to be around NZ$105 million, and says the visit cannot be justified at a time of massive public cuts and 20% unemployment in Spain. Read more
The Vatican, Saturday, unveiled an iPhone App to aid pilgrims’ participation in World Youth Day 2011. The new App, iGPII, named after the founder of WYD, former Pope John Paul II, works on iPod, iPhone and iPad, and will provide regularly updated information about World Youth day activities, directions to recommended restaurants, places to stay and Read more
The American Catholic bishops have created a virtual WYD pilgrimage experience, launching a Website and Facebook page to help those staying at home participate in World Youth Day 2011. On the website, users can create an avatar and use it to participate in the “pilgrimage” coinciding with the August 16-21 worldwide youth gathering. A Google map Read more
A group Spanish priests have criticised the Church for getting sponsorship for the Pope’s visit to World Youth Day (WYD) in August. In a rare break in public loyalty, the 120 priests told their archbishop, Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, that the sponsorship deals reinforced the impression the Church was a privileged institution. The Church Read more