Pope Benedict XVI: First pilgrim for WYD 2013
August 30, 2012: Registrations for World Youth Day 2013, were officially opened on
Tuesday, the 28th of August. Pope Benedict XVI was the first pilgrim entered
for the event. In less than 24 hours, Four thousand young people of over 220 youth
groups from five continents have enrolled. Among the foreigners, Chinese and Arabs
are already a part of the list, which is mainly composed of Latin Americans. On the
first day itself, groups from Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, Paraguay
and Uruguay have enrolled themselves. Meanwhile, Father Ramon Birth, Director of the Volunteer Sector said "Volunteers are the lifeblood of the Day and by volunteering, these highly motivated young people have been working on a common goal.” “In fact it has engaged the youth with fun and at the same time focused on the target to make a success of WYD," He added. To date, almost 50 thousand volunteers are already enrolled in WYD. The Main Programmes will be held at Copacabana Beach and Santa Cruz Air Base in July of next year with parallel schedules and cultural activities that will be held throughout each day of WYD Rio2013.
The launch of the registration was conducted in the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro with the participation of Archbishop Orani Tempesta, Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro and Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC). Registration of pilgrims can be made in one of the seven languages (English, Portuguese, German, Spanish, French, Italian and Polish) available on the official website of WYD Rio2013 (www.rio2013.com)
The Catholic Church in Brazil is expected to attract a total of 2 million young people worldwide.
On the mainland, only Argentina has hosted the meeting, 25 years ago.
So as to avoid a rush of all Catholics in one place, youth are divided by languages and distributed around the town during the week of WYD. There will be 27 venues for cultural events close to each region that will house the pilgrims. Until other municipalities, as Duque de Caxias, Nova Iguaçu and Niterói help on accommodations, members of the Catholic Church will conduct surveys in all municipal, state and the federal city to verify the accommodation capacity. Other alternatives will include a stay with host families, churches and gymnasiums.
The logo is a universal symbol of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The cross contained in it reinforces the sense of Brazilian territory known as Land of Santa Cruz, and refers to the Pilgrim Cross that has travelled throughout Brazil. The ‘open arms of Christ’ is the monument recognized as one of the wonders of the world: Christ the Redeemer. The forms that finalize the image of the heart have the blue colour representing the coast, plus the green and yellow - which transmit the Brazilianness of the national flag colours. The logo was chosen through a contest launched worldwide and the winner was a young Brazilian designer (Gustavo Huguenin) who now works in the field of Communications.
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