The general coordinator of World Youth Day 2011 announced Jan 14 that
John Paul II has been named patron of the upcoming youth event in
Madrid, Spain.
The 2011 World Youth Day will be celebrated August 16-21.
The event's general coordinator, Auxiliary Bishop Cesar Franco of
Madrid made the announcement shortly after Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko,
president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, disclosed that John
Paul II will be beatified on May 1.
Cardinal Rylko announced the beatification to the more than 400
representatives attending the International Meeting of Delegates meeting
to prepare for World Youth Day.
The representatives broke out in
prolonged applause upon hearing the news.
The World Youth Day organizers emphasized that John Paul II always
had a special affinity for young people.
In 1985, when the first World
Youth Day took place, the late-Pope said: “The entire Church ought to be
ever more committed at the worldwide level to support young people in
their anxieties and desires, in their openness and their hopes, in order
to meet their expectations and communicate to them the certainty who is
Christ.”
Delegates are meeting in Madrid this week to finalize details for the
upcoming World Youth Day, including hospitality, transportation, visas,
online information and other issues.
Madrid’s Mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, told the delegates, “World
Youth Day is not just another gathering, but rather an event that will
be a vital experience for the thousands of young people coming from all
over the world.”
He said officials would do everything possible “to make everyone feel
at home and to make Madrid the best World Youth Day host city so far.”
SIC: CNA/INT'L