.- A Vatican official has confirmed that despite his frail health, Pope John Paul II “is sure” he will visit Cologne for the next World Youth Day which will be held there in 2005.
“The Pope is sure that in August of next year he will be at World Youth Day,” said Archbishop Renato Boccardo, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and organizer of the event.
According to Archbishop Boccardo, the date is firmly set in the Pontiff’s calendar. Boccardo was visiting Cologne to scout the site where the Pope will celebrate the final Mass of World Youth Day on August 21, 2005, before an expected 800,000 people.
