Posted on 08/16/2005 7:17:53 AM PDT by Our_Man_In_Gough_Island
Tens of thousands of young people descended on Cologne in Germany today to kick off the 20th World Youth Day celebrations that will include German-born Pope Benedict XVI’s first foreign trip.
German leaders of the Roman Catholic Church were to hold opening masses in the western cities of Cologne, Bonn and Duesseldorf.
Later today, music, dance and theatre festivals were planned for the young pilgrims from around the world. Organisers said some 400,000 people had registered to attend the events.
Benedict was to join the festival on Thursday and close the event with a huge open-air mass outside Cologne on Sunday
I'm glad to hear that there are Christians still left in Europe.
Good for them! Hope they have some fun.
A contingent of 45,000 is even arriving from France. Hope abounds.
Here is an update on the festival from the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4155552.stm
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