Cologne, Germany, Aug 21, 2005 / 22:00 pm
World Youth Day pilgrims awoke to gray skies and chilly 13-degree temperatures early Sunday morning in Marienfeld, the site of the 10 a.m. papal mass located about 40 kilometers southwest of Cologne, but 1.2 million attended Pope Benedict’s first Mass outside of Italy.
Organizers estimate that at least 700,000 pilgrims attended a candlelight prayer vigil with Pope Benedict the night before. They then slept in the open field under cold and damp conditions. But pilgrims were grateful that it hadn’t rained as forecasted. At 7 a.m. on Sunday, they were hoping that the weather would hold out until at least the end of the Mass.
The spiritual presence of Pope John Paul II was more felt at the morning’s Mass. Certain parts of the Mass, featuring music from the four corners of the earth, recalled the message John Paul had issued a few months before his death to young people for WYD 2005.
During the offertory, in addition to the bread and wine, the young people imitated the three Magi and offer gold, in the form of a chalice, frankincense, in the form of incense, and myrrh, in the form of a branch of myrrh from Israel to remind the congregation of the healing properties of the Eucharist.