The 40,000 mark of the enrolment of French youth in the 20th World Youth Day in Cologne (11-21 August) has now been passed. The figure has been officially announced by the French Bishops’ Conference, specifying in a press release that 30,000 were enrolled in the dioceses while the other 10,000 will travel to Cologne with ecclesial movements, religious congregations and communities. A thousand or so French youth will participate in WYD as volunteers. One particular feature of the ‘French group’ is the presence of some 500 youth from Southern Africa, Burkina Faso, Madagascar, China, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brazil. 35 French bishops will also travel to Cologne and give the usual catechesis during WYD. We interviewed JEAN-PAUL LARVOL , assistant general secretary of the French Bishops’ Conference, and delegate for the lay apostolate. He is a member of the national committee for the preparation of the 20th WYD. Do World Youth Days still have any sense for the young? “The fact of having exceeded 40,000 enrolments is not a bad result for France. We have been working on the preparation of this event for many months, also at the diocesan level. WYD is a proposal that the Church makes to the young. Of course it is just one proposal among many, but it was established at least according to the original inspiration of John Paul II, who took a strong interest in the venture and followed it closely to respond to the hopes and needs of the young, who yearn to be able to meet those in their own age group in an international dimension to share the same experience of faith in the light of the most authentic Christian values. Another original element of WYD is that of being open to youth who don’t have contacts with the Church: it thus represents an occasion for sharing an experience of the Church and perhaps even of rediscovering one’s faith”. “You know, one of the first decisions taken by Benedict XVI was that of confirming his meeting with the young at WYD in Cologne. So I think the new pope has grasped the significance of this event. He immediately perceived that the expectations of the young are high and will undoubtedly be able to respond to their hopes. From this point of view I truly believe there won’t be difficulties. I also think that in future new initiatives will have to be taken. I think that the Church will have to make different proposals because the call to renew herself, and not be satisfied to repeat the same formulae that worked well in the past, forms part of her very nature. There are no ready-made recipes to follow but it’s certain that the young are always ready and willing for change”. Is there a particular message that France wishes to give to WYD? Yes, I really believe that France wishes to give a quite particular coloration to her participation in WYD, in the sense of a profound belonging to Europe and as a sign of reconciliation in the world. This year we have been celebrating the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, which generated in the following decades a series of twinnings between villages and dioceses in France and in Germany as a sign of a new history of reconciliation in Europe after years of death and destruction. The participation of French youth in WYD in Cologne and their meeting with German youth will reinforce this process: it is intended as a sign that says that Europe is important and that the young can help foster a European future characterised by the reconciliation of peoples. This is a salutary response in a context like that today and at a time when France has voted ‘no’ to the referendum on the European Constitution”.
