World Youth Day in Colone, Germany 16-21 Aug 2005

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/messages/youth/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_20030311_xviii-world-youth-day_en.html ^

[SaltyJoe]

MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER JOHN PAUL II FOR THE 18th WORLD YOUTH DAY (APRIL 13, 2003)

"Behold, your mother!" (Jn 19,27)

My dear young people!

1. It always gives me great joy to address a special message to you on the occasion of World Youth Day. It is also a way to show you the extent of my affection for you. The vivid recollection of my experiences during our World Youth Day meetings is impressed on my memory: young people and the Pope together, and a large gathering of bishops and priests, all with our gaze on Christ, light of the world, invoking him and proclaiming him to the entire human family. While I give thanks to God for the witness of faith that you have given once again recently in Toronto, I renew the invitation I made to you on the banks of Lake Ontario: "the Church today looks to you with confidence and expects you to be the people of the Beatitudes!" (Exhibition Place, 25 July 2002; ORE, 31 July 2002, p. 6).

For the 18th World Youth Day that will be celebrated in dioceses all over the world, I have chosen a theme related to the Year of the Rosary: "Behold, your mother!" (Jn 19,27). Before his death, Jesus entrusted to the apostle John what was most precious to him: his Mother, Mary. These are the final words of the Redeemer, and therefore they take on a solemn nature and could be regarded as his spiritual testimony.

[SaltyJoe]

Well I was just about to predict a Pope who's not only a Jewish convert, but also a black Jewish convert as well. So much for my intuitions. Somethings got to give, so it's going to be my inability to predict squat.

But having a staunch German for the Pope makes sense. He's most likely to heal wounds between Israeli and Euopean Jews with the West, as well as bumping up German and Western European Catholism. Germany has also supported a lot of industry in the Middle East. This will certainly go a long way with global reconciling relations.

The parallels and relationships are overwhelming. The last Pope Benedict (the XV) was during World War 1. Germany was pushing for a global position using the political rhetoric of finding a place under the sun for Germans. Since modern Germans have had to suffer their grandparents' and great grand parents' infamous Nazi reputation, this will be a Germanic chance to shine in the sun and indeed with the Son. Germany will host the World Youth Day August 16-21, 2005 in Colone.

http://www.gocatholictravel.com/world-youth-day-2005-intro.html

The great Hope of having this German Pope is that ALL nations and individuals with a notorious past will be able to crawl out of that sinful horror. Whatever errors a race or people suffer (ruthless genocidal dictatorships, state enforced atheism, heretical false prophet extremism, eugenics abortion/euthanasia commercialism, etc.) this Pope, Pope Benedict XVI will show us how God washes our sins away to make us "whiter than snow." With the Grace of the Holy Trinity, mankind will remember Germans for this Pope and not for a failed fanatical fascist socialist ideology.

Our beloved deceased Pope John Paul II said that God's Divine Mercy is infinite. His Love restores our greatness in his Grace. I feel assured in writing this not as a prediction, but as a fact being realized this very day.

---------------other related links

http://www.vatican.va/gmg/documents/gmg_2005_en.html

http://www.wjt2005.de/index.php?id=6&si=1

[Fintan]

Here's that "g" missing from Cologne.

[Michael81Dus]

Being a protestant, I am not that much affected by the election of Pope Benedict XVI. However, I appreciate the honour that the Holy See is occupied by a German, and I agree that it will help to improve Germanys image in the world. Let the World Youth Days in Cologne be successful, even I consider to participate!

[SaltyJoe]

"Here's that "g" missing from Cologne."

oops (blush, blush).