World Youth Day delegates leave

The 15 Cebuano delegates to the World Youth Day gathering in Germany left yesterday evening for Manila for a two-day preparatory session at the San Carlos Pastoral Formation Complex in Makati City.

The participants will join other 320 Filipino delegates in Cologne, Germany, for the World Youth Day celebration that will start on August 16.

Fr. Arturo Navales, chairman of the Cebu Archdiocese Commission, said the Filipino delegation will leave Manila on August 8 for Frankfurt, Germany.

He said that the delegates would stay for a week at the Saint Brigid Church in the diocese of Limburg, a Suffragan archdiocese of Cologne.

Some of the activities lined up for the celebration are the audience welcoming ceremony on August 16, station of the cross, vigil with the pope and a Mass with Pope Benedict XVI on August 21.

The participants will also have a one-day pilgrimage to a Cologne cathedral, which is believed to have the relics of the Three Magi or the Three Kings who visited Christ during His birth.

Navales said they were told to bring little stars during the celebration as a sign of peace.

Navales, who will lead the Cebu delegates, will be accompanied by 11 other Filipino priests and bishops to the celebration.