WYD Toronto: Ten years later

Ten years ago, the Church in Canada welcomed Pope John Paul II to Toronto for World Youth Day 2002 – ultimately the last one the beatified Pope would attend.

“This has been a very significant week because it’s been ten years, so it’s kind of an opportunity for us to re-live the whole event,” says Father Thomas Rosica, C.S.B., who, as National Director of the Toronto World Youth Day was intimately involved in all aspects of the event.

Father Rosica says the Pope’s witness in Toronto had a huge impact. “He left his imprint on this city. This is an extremely complex, secular environment, but for those days that he was here, he won the whole population – Christian, Muslim, Jewish – and when we show all of the ceremonies this week, it’s been a flood of emotions, messages, of letters. Yesterday, just keeping up with some of the responses of people saying, we were blessed to have this event ten years ago. We needed it more than we ever knew.”

Canada’s Salt and Light Media foundation (saltandlighttv.org), which Father Rosica highlighted as “one of the most significant legacies or fruits of any of the World Youth Days,” is featuring stories and articles on the lasting impact of Toronto’s WYD 2002.

Listen to the full interview of Father Thomas Rosica with Christopher Wells: