THE city of Cologne is finalising preparations for an invasion of hundreds of thousands of young people this week, scheduled to attend World Youth Day and activities surrounding Pope Benedict XVI’s visit.
Head of the Cologne fire department, Stefan Neuhoff, described the Pope’s August 18-21 visit as “the biggest planning challenge since the end of World War II”.
By the end of July, just weeks before the start of the August 16-21 World Youth Day celebrations, organisers had received registrations from 370,000 young people from 160 countries, nearly 700 bishops, 8000 priests and 5100 journalists.
More than 2000 Australian pilgrims are expected to attend the event.
Before the start of World Youth Day festivities, about 120,000 of them will stay in German dioceses for a few days, sharing the life of Catholics throughout the country.
The offer by individual local Muslims and, in one case, a whole Muslim community to take in pilgrims caused some problems for the organisers, who eventually accepted the offers.
World Youth Day general secretary, Msgr Heiner Koch, told the German Catholic news agency KNA: “The places which offer hospitality are not, for us, simply random locations. They should, after all, lead to Catholic encounters.”
The Muslim community in the nearby town of Niederkassel has offered 60 young people a place in the communal hall beneath the mosque.
The community’s chairman, Niyazi Ileli, said: “Pilgrimage is central for us as Muslims, and if young Christians want to do that, we support it happily.”
Police chief Klaus Steffenhagen said the London bombings had made security a central concern, and the Pope’s arrival will turn Cologne into a high security zone.
CNS
