World youth day
The auxiliary bishop of Triers, Jörg Michael Peters, deputy president of the Youth Commission of the German Bishops Conference, and the delegation of 21 people from the German dioceses and archdioceses, that went to Panama and Nicaragua from 17th to 29th January, in the run-up to the World Youth Day 2019 (22-27 January), have just come back home. The delegates, as explained by a release, organised the “meeting days” in the local communities of Panama, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. “Our pilgrims will be glad to meet a young, lively Church, the joy of faith lived with rhythm and wonderful people. This WYD will be particularly useful”, Paul Metzlaff of the German national office for youth pastoral care, stated. The delegation visited the places of the WYD and, at a meeting with the German ambassador, it “learnt about the economic and social dimensions of the country”. They also went to Colon, one of the poorest dioceses, and to “the national Youth Renewal meeting”, with 10 thousand young people from the 23 dioceses of Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. In Manaugua, instead, they met the archbishop, card. Leopoldo Solórzano. The German participants will experience “how different the real situations in which people live here are, and what it means to follow the Gospel to be on the side of the deprived in a young Church”, commented don Dirk Bingener, president of the German Catholic Youth association (Bdkj).
