Denver, Colo., Aug 14, 2005 / 22:00 pm
This week, some 600 young people from Denver, Colorado will complete the overseas trek to join an estimated 800,000 youth from around the world--as well as Pope Benedict XVI--for the 20th World Youth Day.
The city is still awash with memories of Pope John Paul II’s 1993 visit for that year’s World Youth Day celebration held in Denver, a moment which many say, lit the fire for the Archdiocese of Denver to become one of the strongest and most well-respected in the country.
John Paul instituted the worldwide event in 1984 in his native Poland as a profound way to reach out to the youth of the planet with the message of the Gospel.
Pope Benedict commented during his inauguration ceremony last spring that, "If we look at these young people who were gathered around the late Pope, and as a result, around Christ, whose cause the Pope espoused, something just as comforting could be seen: it is not true that young people think only of consumerism and pleasure. It is not true that they are materialistic and self-centered.”