Eduardo Paes, Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, announced Monday that
Pope Benedict XVI will visit the city, in 2013, at the occasion of the
World Youth Day (Jornada Mundial da Juventude) sponsored by the Catholic
Church.
In a statement to the press, Pares said the city is ready to host the
Pope. “We will make it official in middle August,” he announced.
More than 600 thousand people are expected to participate at the event followed by many more thousands around the world.
Pope Benedict XVI visited Brazil for 5 days in May 2007, where he
opened the 5th General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America and
the Caribbean.
Brazil, the largest Portuguese-speaking country in the world, is also
the largest Catholic country with an estimated 145 million Catholics,
representing 75 % out of a total population of nearly 185 million.
Rio de Janeiro (6,3 million) is the capital city of the State of Rio
de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, the 6th largest in the
Americas, and 26th in the world.
Currently there are 427 bishops and 18,087 priests in Brazil where
the Church runs 366 hospitals, 1,013 clinics, 764 homes for the elderly
or disabled, 1,942 orphanages and nurseries, 2,159 family counseling
centers and other pro-life centers, and 2,830 centers for education and
social rehabilitation.
World Youth Day (WYD)
was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985.
It is celebrated at the
diocesan level annually, and at a week-long international level every
two to three years at different locations.
The international level
events attract hundreds of thousands of youth from almost every country
on the planet.
It is a major part of the upsurge in Catholic Youth Work
in some countries over recent year.