POPE Benedict XVI hopes his return visit to Germany for World Youth Day will give “new impulse” to the Church in Europe.
Up to 800,000 people are expected at a Mass in Cologne on August 28 to conclude the international Catholic festival. Among them will be about 2200 Australian pilgrims.
The visit is the 78 year-old Pope’s first foreign trip since his election.
Pope Benedict said ideally World Youth Day would spark “a wave of new faith among young people, especially the youth in Germany and Europe”.
Sydney is expected to be on the Pope’s lips when he announces the host city for World Youth Day 2008 at the end of the August 28 Mass.
One of the world’s most highly regarded Vatican correspondents, John Allen, who writes a weekly column for the National Catholic Reporter newspaper in the US, pre-empted the announcement on August 1 when he wrote that Sydney had won the bid for 2008.
Sydney archdiocese responded by saying the final choice of the host city remained a secret until Pope Benedict officially made the announcement.
However, the archdiocese has already anticipated its success by advertising for several positions in relation to World Youth Day 2008.
