One million youth to attend World Youth Day, of these over a thousand from India

(Aug.10, 2011) One million young people are expected to attend World Youth Day in the Spanish capital Madrid from Aug. 16-21, of these, 1,732 are officially registered from India. A young catholic from Mumbai, Mikhail Carvalho, making his first trip outside India told Asia News "I am thrilled to be part of Christian fellowship, to participate in a meeting with young people from around the world and to share our love for the Church and the pope.” He said
"For many of us, it is our first international trip and we attended several courses in preparation for the event. We were explained the value of being ambassadors for our nation, always remembering our Christian roots. "
World Youth Day this year has reached a total record 420,508 registrations, but perhaps a million people are expected. In general, the official numbers are encouraging - about 86 thousand from Italy and 82 thousand from Spain. What is striking is that youth from countries experiencing dramatic situations will also be attending. There are some 3,474 from Pakistan, 636 from Syria, 328 from China, 451 from Egypt, and 60 from Libya.