World Youth Day will begin in just 48 days, and the number of pilgrims registered for the Madrid meeting with Benedict XVI is already a record-breaker. Today there was a press conference at the Vatican to give an update on the Aug. 19-21 Youth Day.
Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, said that there have never before been 440,000 registered youth a month and a half before the event. He spoke of World Youth Day as “an extraordinary experience of a Church that is a friend of youth, that is at the service of the new generations. It is an experience of a universal Church that embraces the entire planet, of a young Church, full of enthusiasm.”
The cardinal noted the importance of formation in the context of Youth Day, both leading up to the pilgrimage, and in the 260 catechesis sessions in 30 languages that will be part of the Madrid itinerary. With the 440,000 youth, there are 745 bishops registered, as well as 13,455 priests and 4,585 seminarians.
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 28, 2011 (Zenit.org)