After the Madrid World Youth Day, the “inventor” of the international youth event will now also be present in spirit, in Rio de Janeiro: Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano reports that the relics of John Paul II reached the Brazilian capital last Sunday.
The relics will be exhibited at the venues where
all the main WYD events will be taking place.
The President of the
Pontifical Council for the Laity, Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, delivered
them during a mass celebrated on 7 July in the Holy Sanctuary of the
Miraculous Medal in the Tijuca district, in the north of the city.
This will be the fourth time Pope John Paul
II arrives on Brazilian soil: He was there from 30 June to 11 July,
1980, on 11 June 1982, from 12 to 21 October, 1991, and finally from 2
to 6 October, 1997, when Rio de Janeiro hosted the Second World
Meeting of Families.
During his stay in Brazil, Cardinal Rylko also
inaugurated he exhibition “In the Footsteps of Christ”, featuring
masterpieces from Italy and the Vatican which are on display from 9 July
to 13 October at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Rio.
The cardinal said this was the eighth World Youth
Day exhibition and that it focuses on the works of some of the most
important painters and sculptors from the period 1400-1800.