On Passion Sunday, Canada to hand over World Youth Day Cross to Germany

Wednesday, April 09 2003

(CCCB – Ottawa) Canada’s role in World Youth Day 2002 will officially come to an end this coming Sunday in Rome when a Canadian delegation, in the presence of Pope John Paul II, will hand over the World Youth Day Cross, which they have taken care of for the past three years, to a delegation of German young people who will host World Youth Day 2005 in Cologne, Germany.

The ceremony will take place in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican following the Passion Sunday Mass, the date in the Catholic calendar that World Youth Day is normally celebrated around the world. The major international World Youth Day celebrations are held every two or three years, the last one being in Toronto in July 2002.

The Canadian delegation to Rome is headed by Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic of Toronto, Bishop François Lapierre, P.M.É., of St-Hyacinthe, and Rev. Thomas Rosica, C.S.B., National Director of World Youth Day 2002. The three will take part in an international symposium on World Youth Day being organized by the Vatican. Delegates from 100 countries will take part in this meeting that will review the events of World Youth Day 2002.