Madrid, Spain, Aug 20, 2011 / 10:08 am
Some 8,000 U.S. pilgrims at World Youth Day 2011 received expressions of gratitude and encouragement from their country's bishops, following a Mass on the morning of August 20.
“We bishops encourage your energy, your enthusiasm and your love. We support your witness when you go back home, we request your prayers in return,” Chicago's Cardinal Archbishop Francis E. George told Mass attendees at the “Love and Life Center,” this week's headquarters for English-speaking pilgrims.
Cardinal George, who presided at the Mass, spoke “on behalf of my brother bishops,” thanking the U.S. pilgrims “for your dedication and your love to our Lord Jesus, for all your efforts and the testimony you have given.” New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan was the homilist at the Mass, concelebrated by all of the U.S. cardinals and bishops attending World Youth Day.
In his remarks, Cardinal George also encouraged the young pilgrims to be “grateful to your parents, your benefactors and all those who made possible for you to be here.”