“There are two great heroes of World Youth Day: the Pope and the young”, says the archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, in commenting on the 20th WYD on the website of the Irish archdiocese. Over 700,000 Irish youngsters participated in the event. Archbishop Martin says how inspired he was “by the enthusiasm of the young, by their deep faith, by the sincerity of the questions” they posed in the course of the catechesis, and “by their desire to get to know ever better Jesus and his message and how to live it in our time”. The archbishop says he came home “exhausted”, but “renewed in his mission”. “I think he writes that the same thing was experienced by the young themselves. This makes WYD unique”. Msgr. Martin also expresses thanks, especially to the Pope and also to all the youth who travelled to Cologne. During this WYD Benedict XVI, writes the archbishop, “showed he had his own particular style in relating to the young, transmitting a profound message with calm and with simple words. He is a person far more reserved than John Paul II. But the young had no difficulty in adapting to his different style, indeed they responded with great warmth and affection to his appeals to them. It was clear he wanted the young to focus not on his person, but on Jesus Christ”.
