World Youth Day
Aug. 16th, 2005 02:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nairiporterWorld Youth Day begins for 400,000
COLOGNE,
Germany, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- Some 400,000 Roman Catholics marked the
beginning of World Youth Day in Germany Tuesday by attending masses in
Cologne, Bonn and Dusseldorf.
The pilgrims have a choice of more than 1,000 events during the week, from jam sessions, talks about the Catholic church, AIDS prevention and sex, to morning prayers, poetry readings and discussions on how to spread justice through the world, Deutsche Welle reported.
Around 100,000 people traveled from Italy, while around 50,000 youths from Spain and 20,000 from Poland made the trip to the homeland of the new pope.
Almost 1 million people are expected to attend the Sunday mass with Pope Benedict XVI. On Friday, the pontiff is to become the first pope to attend a German synagogue.
Fears heightened by this summer's terrorist attacks in London have 4,000 police slated for deployment during the 78-year-old pontiff's visit, as well as some 4,000 private security guards. NATO will supply AWACS radar planes to patrol the skies and other aircraft must apply for special permission to fly over the area.
