(June 29, 2011) World Youth Day will begin in just about 50 days, and the number
of pilgrims registered for the meeting in the Spanish capital of Madrid with Pope
Benedict XVI is already a record-breaker. A press conference was held at the Vatican
on Monday to give an update on the Aug. 19-21 Youth Day. Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko,
president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, said that there have never before
been 440,000 registered youth nearly a month and a half before the event. He spoke
of World Youth Day as "an extraordinary experience of a Church that is a friend of
youth, that is at the service of the new generations. It is an experience of a universal
Church that embraces the entire planet, of a young Church, full of enthusiasm," he
said. The cardinal noted the importance of formation in the context of Youth Day,
both leading up to the pilgrimage, and in the 260 catechesis sessions in 30 languages
that will be part of the Madrid program . With the 440,000 youth, there are 745 bishops
registered, as well as 13,455 priests and 4,585 seminarians.