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The Argentinean Pope’s first international trip to Rio de Janeiro to celebrate World Youth Day (22-29 July) is less than a week away. This will be the first time he returns to his homeland, Latin America, since his election to the pontificate. Unlike his predecessors, the Pope will not be using the Popemobile to get around. Francis wants to have direct contact with as many people as possible. He will be using a covered sedan or the open-top jeep he uses during his Wednesday General Audiences to get around Rio de Janeiro, where he will be spending most of his...

Authorities in Brazil have denounced church leaders as criminals for chopping down more than 300 centuries-old trees in a national park - so pilgrims can celebrate mass during the Pope’s visit to Rio de Janeiro. Pope Francis will make his first international trip to the world’s largest Roman Catholic country later this month. Organisers of an event in the diocese of Sao Sebastiao de Itaipu, in the city of Niteroi, claimed they needed to clear an area of Atlantic rainforest to accommodate the expected crowd of up to 800 pilgrims. A total of 334 trees at the edge of the...

When the Vatican announced that World Youth Day would be held in Denver in 1993, many news experts predicted that the event would be a failure. The United States, they said, was different than countries like Poland and Argentina, where previous World Youth Days had met great success. The United States, they claimed, lacked an entrenched tradition of Catholic pilgrimage, the traveling distances required to assemble a large gathering from across the country were too large, and most importantly American young people would simply be uninterested in the pope or his message. On August 10, 1993, stunned reporters crumpled their...

On World Youth Day 2011 "The Cross of Christ Gives Much More Than It Demands" CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 24, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the Italian-language catechesis Benedict XVI gave today during the general audience held at Castel Gandolfo. * * * Dear brothers and sisters, Today I would like to return briefly in mind and heart to the extraordinary days spent in Madrid for the XXVI World Youth Day. It was, as you know, a moving ecclesial event: approximately 2 million youth from every continent gathered for a truly exceptional experience of fraternity, of encounter with...

>Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday urged young people to build their lives "on the firm foundation" of the Christian faith at the start of his visit to Spain, where he drew massive crowds despite the growing secularism. Hundreds of thousands of believers attended a huge "welcome party" for the pope at Madrid's centrally located Cibeles square. The 84-year-old German pontiff will be in Spain until Sunday on occasion of the Catholic World Youth Day celebrations. Crowds cheered the pope, waved flags and threw confetti as he drove toward Cibeles in the popemobile. Benedict then made a symbolic entry on foot...

God’s ways are mysterious and marvelous. I had the great honor of attending World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto. And it was there that I marveled at the work of the Spirit in my own life. As I walked the streets of Toronto, attended the workshops, observed the spirit and enthusiasm of thousands of young men and women from around the world – my heart was full of deep memories. And it was filled with a fresh spirit of joy. ...

The United Nations must love Catholics, we give them their best ideas.Take, for instance, the UN’s latest initiative, aimed at the world’s youth. The International Year of Youth was initiated by the United Nations at the end of last year, and officially began on August 12, 2010. According to the UN, the Year was initiated for the purposes of promoting “peace, freedom, progress and solidarity towards the promotion of youth development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.”And the year will be started off with a conference in Mexico City, from August 24th-27th, called the World Youth Conference.Hmmm. This...

SYDNEY (AFP) - - Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday urged hundreds of thousands of young Catholics to beat back a "spiritual desert" spreading through the modern world as he closed Catholic World Youth Day in Australia. The pope celebrated an open-air mass in Sydney that organisers said drew 400,000 worshippers in the climax of a week of prayer and pop concerts during which the pontiff made a historic apology for child sex abuse by clergy. In his final mass, the pope said the worshippers' youthful energy helped reinvigorate the church and urged them to become "messengers of love" to counter...

SYDNEY, Australia (CNS) -- For some participants at World Youth Day, the joy of welcoming Pope Benedict XVI to the World Youth Day celebration July 17 was dampened by the absence of a Chaldean Catholic delegation from Iraq. Salina Hasham, a World Youth Day employee, has been working for months trying to get the 170-member Iraqi delegation to Sydney. At first, it seemed the Australian government would not issue any visas to the group, Hasham said. Then 10 visas were granted and, finally, a total of 25 visas were approved. But as of July 17, she said, "they are stuck...

Sydney, Australia (LifeNews.com) -- At the welcoming ceremony for the opening of World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia, the pope told tens of thousands of young people that they have a responsibility to protect human life. Pope Benedict XVI told cheering throngs of students and young adults that they need to stand up against abortion. Addressing a crowd estimated at 150,000 people, the Catholic leader said that newfound enthusiasm for protecting the environment must be match by an equal vigor to protect human life. "At the heart of the marvel of creation are you and I, the human family, 'crowned...

Dear friends, life is not governed by chance; it is not random. Your very existence has been willed by God, blessed and given a purpose (cf. Gen 1:28)! Life is not just a succession of events or experiences, helpful though many of them are. It is a search for the true, the good and the beautiful. It is to this end that we make our choices; it is for this that we exercise our freedom; it is in this – in truth, in goodness, and in beauty – that we find happiness and joy. Do not be fooled by those...

TV Schedule for World Youth Day 2008  Date ET PT GMT Program Name Description Tue 07/15/08 2:00 AM Mon 11 PM 6:00 WORLD YOUTH DAY 2008 ~ OPENING MASS WITH CARDINAL PELL (LIVE) (3 hrs) Presided over by Cardinal George Pell, this Mass formally celebrates the opening of WYD 2008. A much-anticipated feature of the Mass will be the arrival of the WYD Cross and Icon. Tue 07/15/08 12 PM 9 AM 16:00 Encore Tue 07/15/08 9 PM 6 PM 1:00 Encore Wed 07/16/08 12 AM Tues 9 PM 4:00 Encore           Thu 07/17/08 12:30...

Sydney's Polish-Catholic community World Youth Day coordinator, 24-year-old Basia Slusarczyk, explained to ZENIT that her non-Catholic boyfriend is participating in the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. His conversion was triggered by the experience of praying with her for the fruits of World Youth Day. "He is attending World Youth Day with me and I hope the week of events and the solidarity with so many Catholics from around the world will make him proud to be joining the Catholic family," Basia said. She was with a group of young Polish-Australians dressed in traditional Polish dancing uniforms at the veneration...

More than 30 Indian youths have disappeared in New Zealand, where they were in transit to go to Sydney for World Youth Day, a spokeswoman for the Catholic Church said Monday. Lyndsay Freear told Radio New Zealand that a party of 220 Indian Catholics who arrived in Auckland a week ago were due to fly to Sydney Tuesday, but 32 of them had disappeared. All were billeted with church members in Auckland under a so-called Days in the Diocese programme before going to Australia, where Pope Benedict arrived Sunday for events associated with World Youth Day. Freear said all the...

Washington, DC (24 June 2008) – When Catholic youth around the world converge in Sydney, Australia for World Youth Day, they will be handed condoms in an attempt to protest the Pope’s unwavering opposition to abortion, contraception and homosexuality. The NoToPope Coalition, a group of abortion, homosexual and atheist activists, including Raelians and the Socialist Alliance, will reportedly number between 1,000 and 5,000 protestors. They plan to distribute condoms to pilgrims en route to the Papal Mass at Randwick Racecourse July 20. “It’s getting easier and easier to identify good and evil,” said Judie Brown, president of American Life League....

SYDNEY, Australia, July 30, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - World Youth Day '08 organizers have said that they will not co-operate with any efforts to disseminate safe-sex information that contradicts Church teachings on extra-marital sexual relations and contraception to WYD participants, reports the Sydney Morning Herald today. The Herald is reporting the organizers' stance as a "row" over the safe-sex message, though in the article it is unclear with whom the organizers are having the "row." According to the Herald the New South Wales Health Minister is preparing a fact sheet for the event, though a spokesman for the Minister did not...

The Revolution of God, the first book produced by Pope Benedict XVI since his election to the papacy, was released by the Vatican on October 11. The 130-page book contains all of the speeches that the Holy Father delivered during World Youth Day celebrations in Cologne, Germany, from August 18 to 21. It also includes the text of his remarks at a general audience on August 24, after his return, commenting on the trip. The Italian-language edition was produced jointly by the Vatican publishing house, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, and St. Paul Editions. Separate editions, in appropriate translations, will be available...

DUESSELDORF, Germany – While hundreds of thousands of young Roman Catholics sing and dance their way through World Youth Day festivities, some start each morning in silent prayer attending the rarely celebrated old Latin Mass. It was standing room only in the large Saint Antonius church in Duesseldorf, one of several venues for the Catholic youth jamboree centred in nearby Cologne, as over 300 young believers gathered on Wednesday morning for Mass in the ancient language. The traditional liturgy, almost forgotten since the Church switched to vernacular tongues for its services, is full of reverent rituals and ornate vestments which...

Steubenville, Aug. 25, 2005 (CNA) - Mike Kent grew up Catholic in Florida. He attended the University of Central Florida for a year and played football. Then he went to World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto."I had an empty feeling in my heart, and I thought it would be filled by partying and things like that," he told NBC's Today show Monday. "It was when I went to World Youth Day in Toronto, Canada, in 2002, and I met the Lord."The young man's encounter with Jesus was so strong that he withdrew from UCF, left for Rome to learn more...

The Message Does Count World Youth Day was never just about Pope John Paul II. By Colleen Carroll Campbell The conventional wisdom of secular journalists has long held that World Youth Day is a "Catholic Woodstock" born under Pope John Paul II and sustained by his personal charisma. The millions of young Catholics who have flocked to this global faith celebration for more than two decades like to party together and loved their late pope. But his defense of orthodox theology and traditional morality was never part of the appeal. That explanation — that World Youth Day gatherings were successful...