Weltjugendtag 2005 Köln

I am proud to say that I have made a religious pilgrimage. On Sunday, August 21st, I traveled to Köln (Cologne), Germany. Pope Benedict XVI was there for World Youth Day. Yes, I went to Sunday Mass with the Pope. I had Eucharist blessed by the Pope, I have neclaces blessed by the Pope, I was blessed by the Pope. Did I actully see him? No. He was too far away for me to see him, but I could see him on the big TV screens they had set up for the "unregistered pilgrims". Yes, they register pilgrims now. Go figure. I dedicated 14 hours to seeing the Pope. Actually, I spent an hour eating in a chinese place, so it was really 13 hours, but still it's a lot of time. I have a little video that I made of the event. If you want to see what I could see, email me and I'll send it to you. Pardon the german in it though. The Pope is German, the country was Germany...go figure that most of the service was held in german. There was an english translation on the radio, so I could hear some of that from the canadian people behind us. On this day, my small corner of the world was expanded in a way I can't entirely explain. There is something inexplicable that happens when you hold the hand of an Italian man to pray the "Our Father" and hear him say it in Italian, hear it in French from behind you, in Spanish from in front of you and in german over the loud speaker. There were an estimated 80,000 pilgrims at the final service on Sunday, representing nearly every country on earth including several african countries, and some small island from the south pacific. They all prayed the "Our Father" together in their own languages. It was really something.
I am, at best, a bad catholic. I don't go to church much. Ok, it's been years. But on Sunday, I spend 8 hours on trains and 2 1/2 hours walking so that I could go to Sunday Mass. Does that make me a better catholic? I don't really think so, but at least I know the importance of what I saw...nearly one million people who had traveled from all parts of the globe to see a man who has dedicated his entire life to his belief. To our belief. To hear us proclaim our faith in more languages than I can count on both hands, may not make me a better catholic, but I think it may have made me a better person.