Madrid, Spain, Apr 2, 2009 / 21:50 pm
A red sea of five thousand Spanish youth will be in Rome April 3-6 to receive the World Youth Day Cross from their Australian peers, which will be taken to Spain for WYD 2011 in Madrid.
The Spanish daily La Razon reported that the Spanish youth will "participate in Palm Sunday Mass with Pope Benedict XVI, at the end of which the Australian youth will hand the cross over to the Spaniards, together with the icon of the Virgin."
"On April 6 in the morning, the young people will have an audience at 9 a.m. with Benedict XVI, who will speak words of encouragement to them and send them off to Madrid to be witnesses of the Crucified One."
Likewise, the Pontifical Council for the Laity announced in a statement it will be organizing a meeting with youth ministry leaders from around the world April 3-5 to prepare for the next WYD in Madrid.