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Pope Benedict XVI, centre, arrives at San Lorenzo del Escorial monastery in Madrid on Friday, part of a four-day visit for the Roman Catholic Church's World Youth Day festivities. (Arturo Rodriguez/Associated Press)Pope Benedict XVI lamented modern society's "amnesia" about God as he travelled Friday to a famed Spanish monastery on the second day of his four-day visit for the Roman Catholic Church's world youth festival.Several hundred young nuns cheered, waved flags and performed the "wave" at El Escorial monastery as they waited for Benedict inside a courtyard of a 16th-century complex, a UNESCO world heritage site about 50 kilometres northwest...

Via Eponymous Flower and Messa in Latino comes something from World Youth Day not covered by the mainstream Catholic media. And one must ask why that is.My emphases: Traditionalist Bishops [Not the SSPX bishops. Bishops with actual faculties and authority.] Celebrate the Immemorial Mass With 1500 WYD Pilgrims(Madrid) Msgr. Marc Marie Max Aillet, the Bishop of Bayonne, Lescar and Orlon since 2008 in France will celebrate the Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form at the Parish Church of San Eduardo in Madrid with more than 1500 youth. This church has been allocated to the youth who are attached to Tradition...

Pope Benedict XVI holds a palm as he arrives to lead the Palm Sunday mass at the Vatican April 17, 2011. Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Since time immemorial, mankind has tried to attain the heights, "to be like God," but a "force of gravity pulls us down – towards selfishness, falsehood and evil". From this contradiction, we are saved by " the One who raises us up to the heights of God in spite of our wretchedness: Jesus Christ who from God came down to us and, in his crucified love, takes us by the hand and lifts us on...

Catholic Christians lacking proper guidance from Pope Benedict XVI whether they should be using social networks or not can take a deep breath. The Pope official blessed the used of Internet communication tools, especially social networks, but warned about risks. "In the search for sharing, for 'friends', there is the challenge to be authentic and faithful, and not give in to the illusion of constructing an artificial public profile for oneself," he stated. He reminded Christians not to forget the interaction with others in the real world: "It is important always to remember that virtual contact cannot and must not...

(ANSA) - Vatican City, August 18 - As Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Madrid Thursday, Vatican Radio released a statement rebuffing claims from angry Spanish protesters that the pontiff's visit for World Youth Day was an unfair burden on taxpayers. "The event will not cost anything" for Spain, it said. "The burden will fall on the church, the pilgrims, and private donors," it added, citing Spanish Government Spokesman Jose Blanco. The Spanish leftist union CGT instead estimated that the real cost to taxpayers is around 100 million euros when taking into account security, public buildings and spaces made available,...

Following up the post below about YOUCAT (Youth Catechism), to be published by Ignatius Press in March—the Preface has been posted by Italian journalist Sandro Magister on his Chiesa site; here is the first part:"I RECOMMEND TO YOU THE READING OF AN EXTRAORDINARY BOOK"by Benedict XVI Dear young friends! Today I recommend to you the reading of an extraordinary book. It is extraordinary for its content, but also for the way in which it was composed, which I would like to explain to you briefly so that you may understand its uniqueness. "YouCat" took its origin, so to speak, from...

In the overnight hours of March 22nd-23rd, a group of radical feminists set fire to the historic 18th century church of Saint Vincent in Sarrià, a place which I know well and have written about on my other blog, Catholic Barcelona. The formerly independent village of Sarrià is a pretty, well-to-do neighborhood in the north end of Barcelona, somewhat reminiscent of Georgetown here in DC. Why those responsible chose this particular parish we do not know, though its pastor, Father Manel Valls, is well-known both in Barcelona and throughout Catalonia for being the celebrant of the televised Sunday Mass on...

>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...

Madrid, 2008 In 1936, during the great Socialist Terror of the early months of the Civil War, the large monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Cerro de los Ángeles, near Madrid, was attacked and demolished, a symbol of one of the harshest large-scale persecutions of the Church in History. From one of the stones of the demolished statue, a small sculpture of the Sacred Heart was sculpted and placed in the public garden outside the Parish Church of San Antonio de la Florida, in Madrid - otherwise a very famous building due to the extensive paintings of...

MADRID, Spain, August 16, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, has granted all of the 2,000 priests attending World Youth Day this week the special power to the lift the excommunication and to grant absolution in confession to those who have committed the sin of abortion. According to the Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law, any person who procures an abortion is automatically excommunicated from the Church (can. 1398).  This penalty – the worst penalty there is under canon law - can only be lifted by the pope and bishops, as well as...

APOSTOLIC JOURNEY TO MADRIDON THE OCCASION OF THE 26th WORLD YOUTH DAY18-21 AUGUST 2011FINAL MASSHOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI Cuatro Vientos Air Base, MadridSunday, 21 August 2011   Dear Young People,In this celebration of the Eucharist we have reached the high point of this World Youth Day. Seeing you here, gathered in such great numbers from all parts of the world, fills my heart with joy. I think of the special love with which Jesus is looking upon you. Yes, the Lord loves you and calls you his friends (cf. Jn 15:15). He goes out to meet you...

ROME, July 5, 2011 - World Youth Day is not an invention of Benedict XVI, but of his predecessor. Pope Joseph Ratzinger, however, has introduced two very significant innovations. The first was in Cologne, in the summer of 2005. At the culmination of the nighttime vigil, Pope Benedict knelt before the consecrated host. At length, and in silence. With hundreds of thousands of young people touched by this act of adoration. Since then, with Pope Benedict, silent Eucharistic adoration has become a constant not only of the World Youth Days, but also of other mass gatherings, for example the vigil...

The Catholic Youth, gathered in Madrid to the World Youth Day, answer to the "lay", atheist and anti-pope march that happened on August 17 2011 at the Spanish capital, one day before the Pope's arrival. What could be noted was an atheist and antipapal act that offended the faith of thousands of Spaniards and Catholic youngsters that are taking part in the World Youth Day. As highlighted by the El País newspaper, the protest confronted groups of pilgrims, harassing them and resulting in multiple arrests of exalted protestors. Text: St. Therese of Avila Pictures: El País Original in Portuguese, translation...

Lucas and Laurent Masila Madrid, Spain, Aug 20, 2011 / 11:37 am (CNA).- It took a long trip, and “a lot of sacrifice,” for Lucas Masila and his 6-year old son Laurent to make it to Madrid for World Youth Day 2011. But they're glad to be here, and to have their faith strengthened by Pope Benedict XVI. “It was not easy to come, so we are thankful,” Masila told CNA on August 20. Catholics, he said, “are the majority in Kenya,” but “it is challenging, because of the hardships …  Social-economic situations make it hard, but we are...

Rome, Italy, Aug 5, 2011 / 10:01 am (CNA).- The head of Madrid’s Housing and Economy Office, Percival Manglano, confirmed Aug. 2 that World Youth Day is expected to bring $143 million into the Spanish economy. During a debate on the event at the Madrid regional government, Manglano said the arrival of thousands of young Catholics would bring a breath of fresh air to the Spanish economy.  He rebuffed critics who claim the event will cost the Spanish government millions of dollars.  “(World Youth Day) is a meeting between the Pope and the young people of the world,” he said. The event's...

Lunch with Pope Benedict XVI (Credit: Official WYD Twitter.com) Madrid, Spain, Aug 20, 2011 / 10:38 am (CNA/EWTN News).- World Youth Day volunteers who were selected to have lunch with Pope Benedict XVI on August 19 experienced a relaxed, communal and exciting atmosphere, sharing their thoughts and experiences.“The Pope was very happy, (and) laughed with all of us. That is a side of him that I wish more people would know, because it is not well known,” said 33-year old Juan Carlos Piedra, from Ecuador, in an interview with CNA.Piedra was one of twelve World Youth Day 2011 volunteers...

With well over 1 million youth gathering for a three-day celebration of prayers and liturgical worship from countries the world over, it now seems clear that the mainstream secular and pro-abortion and pro-homosexual media have chosen to ignore the resounding and perennial message of the Christ brought to life again by the successor of St. Peter. Shame on these bastards.

On the official website of World Youth Day 2011: WYD Cultural Program Participants Must Be Endorsed by Bishops' ConferencesIt has come to our attention that Michael Voris, a US based media producer, is scheduled to offer independent catechesis sessions out of a hotel in Madrid during World Youth Day 2011. There has been some confusion regarding his affiliation with World Youth Day. Michael Voris, the clergy and the laity associated with him, and their media efforts “Real Catholic TV” and “No Bull in Madrid” are not in any way recognized or approved by World Youth Day 2011.Catechesis at World Youth...

Pope Benedict presided over the World Youth Day closing Mass in Madrid’s Cuatro Vientos military airport Sunday morning, inviting the young people to be “the apostles of the twenty-first century” and to join him again for the next World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2013. Emer McCarthy is in Madrid and sends this report:“You are now about to go back home. Your friends will want to know how you have changed after being in this lovely city with the Pope and with hundreds of thousands of other young people from around the world. What are you going...

Rio de Janeiro will host the next World Youth Day, Pope Benedict announced Sunday to hundreds of thousands of young Roman Catholic pilgrims at the close of this year's event in Madrid. "I am pleased now to announce that the next World Youth day will be held in 2013, in Rio de Janeiro," the Pope told the faithful assembled to celebrate Mass at a military airbase on Madrid's western outskirts. The crowds of young people from around the globe erupted in cheers at the announcement. Rio will also host the Summer Olympics in 2016 and Brazil will host the World...