Approximately 5,000 boys and girls from all over Europe are expected to go to Lourdes from 15 to 20 July for the celebration of the World Youth Day (www.lourdes2008.com). Lourdes, say the organisers, is "a meaningful place to experience a young, lively and missionary Church made in resemblance of the Virgin". Then, the WYD will also be an opportunity to discover together the message of Lourdes and get to know Bernadette, 150 years after the latest apparition of the Virgin on 16 July. In cooperation with the Catholic TV channel Kto, the boys and girls gathered in Lourdes will be able to view on the large screens, through a satellite link, the Pope’s arrival in Sydney, the vigil of prayer and Mass, also with the Pope. The young people can listen in French, English, Spanish and Italian to the catecheses on baptism, the Beatitudes and Mary, and a mystagogic catechesis. The organisers also planned a music festival with artists and bands from Switzerland, Italy and France.
