Pope to WYD pilgrims: see you soon! Close to 1 million ‘likes’ for WYD!

Vatican City, 20 July 2013: Pope Francis on Saturday tweeted his best wishes to World Youth Day pilgrims, many of whom are en route or already arrived in the host city, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ‘Dear young friends, I know that many of you are still travelling to Rio. May the Lord accompany you on your way’ he wrote via his @pontifex handle on the micro-blogging platform.
A day before, on Friday Pope Francis tweeted, “Many of you have already arrived in Rio and many more are just arriving,” He added, “We will see one another there in only three days.” More than three hundred thousand people are registered for the event, with organizers preparing for as many as two and a half million visitors.

Fr. Michel Rogers, SJ, coordinator of English-language WYD initiatives for the Society of Jesus in the US, told Vatican Radio that host city Rio de Janeiro is already beginning to feel the effects of the pilgrim swell. “The city is already beginning to fill up, and you can see the green WYD pilgrim packs everywhere,” he said, adding, “I think it is going to be a wonderful four days at the centre and two days out in the field.”
Fr. Rogers, SJ is also a member of the lead committee for the international English-language welcome centre in Brazil, which will be the hub of English-language catechesis and prayer during the first four days of WYD events, starting Tuesday, July 22nd.

Meanwhile,
Nearly one million people have “liked” World Youth Day Rio’s Facebook page in the run-up to the July 23-28 events in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As of Friday, more than 969,000 people had clicked the “like” icon for WYD. You can find that and all sorts of useful information on the official WYD 2013 site: www.rio2013.com.

In his first apostolic journey abroad, in Brazil Pope Francis will lead many of the WYD events including liturgies, the Via Crucis and a prayer vigil with young people. The Pope leaves Rome on Monday, July 22 and returns to Rome Monday the 29th. While there, he will also visit a drug rehabilitation center and a favela shanty town and meet with a number of prisoners. He is also expected to announce the location of the next World Youth Day.
Source: VR Eng