"There’s no doubt that this is the highlight of this jubilee year", state the organisers of the European "edition" of the World Youth Day, which will begin in Lourdes tomorrow. Approximately 4,000 boys and girls from Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, the United States and Palestine are expected to arrive. Add to these the French boys and girls from 18 dioceses of the French Church. "The World Youth Day explain the organisers is a feast of faith, which enables the young to discover, rediscover or explore their faith through celebrations, prayers, catecheses". There’ll also be music, dancing, plays and shows in Peyramale square and in the streets of Lourdes. The large screens will broadcast, live from Sydney, the opening of the WYD tomorrow 15th July, the Pope’s arrival on Thursday 17th July, the Way of the Cross on Friday 18th July and the Vigil of Prayer with Benedict XVI on 19th July. Each boy or girl will receive a book of the Day and the pilgrim’s bag with a hat and a T-shirt of the WYD. The organisers also though of disabled young people, for whom they will provide special catecheses, a suitable pilgrimage, and translators for the hearing-impaired.
