Some 42,000 ministrants are in Rome for their international meeting, organized by CIM (Coetus Internationalis Ministrantium). The highlight of the meeting today will be the pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Peter, followed by evening prayer and the Mass celebrated in front of St. Peter’s, officiated by the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. Tomorrow, 2 August, during the general audience in St. Peter’s Square, the ministrants from 17 European countries will pray while awaiting the Pope. The pilgrimage has enjoyed huge success, five years after the previous one: the number of participants has risen from 22,000 in 2001 to the current 42,000. The youth (many of them girls who serve at the altar, especially in northern Europe) have arrived in particular from Germany (34,993 enrolments), followed by 1953 Austrian and 1450 Hungarian altar-boys. Italian participation is also significant, with a thousand or so participants. The fourteen Icelandic representatives are also striking. This colourful invasion of youngsters into the Italian capital is a throwback, in part, to World Youth Day in Rome in 2000. Undeterred by the heat of Rome at the present time, they move about the city, visiting the various Roman basilicas. But it is the prayer at the tomb of John Paul II that characterises the pilgrimage: an orderly line of participants continues to fill the right colonnade of St. Peter’s Square as they wait to gain access to the tombs of the Popes and pay homage to Karol Wojtyla and his predecessors.
