Pope Benedict XVI closed the religious ceremonies of World Youth Day on Sunday with a giant Mass in which he told young people to “swim against the tide” and abide by the principles of the Catholic Church despite broader changes in society.
The culmination of World Youth Day — a six-day event that drew more than one million pilgrims to Madrid — took place at an air base on the outskirts of the city.
Though the event was marred earlier this week by clashes between the police and protesters condemning its cost, the huge and ebullient welcome for the pope provided a powerful demonstration of his influence, even at a time when church attendance has been dwindling in Catholic countries like Spain.
At the end of Sunday’s Mass, the pope announced that the next such event would be in Rio de Janeiro in 2013. Until then, he told those at the service, in Portuguese, that they “will be swimming against the tide in a society with a relativistic culture, which wishes neither to seek nor hold on to the truth.”
Young pilgrims had started to gather Saturday morning at the air base ahead of an evening vigil, in order to get closer to the altar, which was 220 yards long, draped in white and crowned by a giant, treelike parasol, made of interwoven golden rods and designed to protect the pope from the brutal heat. Although organizers set aside an area the size of 48 soccer fields to allow pilgrims to spend the night, thousands had to be turned away because of lack of space. With the temperature at around 100 degrees, and despite eight fire trucks patrolling the area to hose down the crowd, almost 900 people required medical attention on Saturday because of heat-related problems.
Still, the weather broke abruptly just after the pope arrived for the Saturday service, forcing an interruption in the vigil and the cancellation of the communion while the pope took shelter from the wind and rain under a white umbrella. When the storm passed, the pope resumed his homily by thanking his audience for their “joy and resistance.” and for being “stronger than the rain.”
While about 70 percent of Spain’s residents consider themselves to be Catholics, the country has witnessed a sharp fall in church attendance, with the number of civil weddings overtaking religious ones in 2009.
Still, the economic downturn has shown the importance of religious charities, at a time when the government has imposed severe austerity cuts to help resolve its debt problems. About 800,000 people in Spain fell into poverty from 2007 and 2010, according to a report published last month by Cáritas, a Catholic charity.
At the end of Sunday’s Mass, the pope announced that the next such event would be in Rio de Janeiro in 2013. Until then, he told those at the service, in Portuguese, that they “will be swimming against the tide in a society with a relativistic culture, which wishes neither to seek nor hold on to the truth.”
Young pilgrims had started to gather Saturday morning at the air base ahead of an evening vigil, in order to get closer to the altar, which was 220 yards long, draped in white and crowned by a giant, treelike parasol, made of interwoven golden rods and designed to protect the pope from the brutal heat. Although organizers set aside an area the size of 48 soccer fields to allow pilgrims to spend the night, thousands had to be turned away because of lack of space. With the temperature at around 100 degrees, and despite eight fire trucks patrolling the area to hose down the crowd, almost 900 people required medical attention on Saturday because of heat-related problems.
Still, the weather broke abruptly just after the pope arrived for the Saturday service, forcing an interruption in the vigil and the cancellation of the communion while the pope took shelter from the wind and rain under a white umbrella. When the storm passed, the pope resumed his homily by thanking his audience for their “joy and resistance.” and for being “stronger than the rain.”
While about 70 percent of Spain’s residents consider themselves to be Catholics, the country has witnessed a sharp fall in church attendance, with the number of civil weddings overtaking religious ones in 2009.
Still, the economic downturn has shown the importance of religious charities, at a time when the government has imposed severe austerity cuts to help resolve its debt problems. About 800,000 people in Spain fell into poverty from 2007 and 2010, according to a report published last month by Cáritas, a Catholic charity.
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