EUROPE/ITALY - Over 5,000 youth from Spain to receive World Youth Day Cross and Icon on Palm Sunday

Rome (Agenzia Fides) – Over 5,000 young people from the Archdiocese of Madrid will accompany Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, Archbishop of Madrid, in receiving the World Youth Day Cross and Icon in the Mass presided by the Holy Father Benedict XVI on Palm Sunday in Saint Peter's Square in Rome. The Cardinal of Madrid will also be accompanied by Auxiliary Bishops Cesar Franco and Juan Antonio Martinez, SJ, the Bishops' Council, and the Youth Delegation.
The young pilgrims from Madrid will arrive in Rome today, April 3 and at 8pm have a Mass with the Cardinal scheduled to take place at San Lorenzo in Damaso. On April 4, at 10am, there is a Mass at San Giovanni Laterano and at 4:30pm, there is a Penitential Service to take place in Santa Croce in Gerusalemme.
On Sunday, there will participate in the Mass presided by Benedict XVI in the morning, and during which the Archdiocese of Madrid will receive the World Youth Day Cross and the Icon.
On Monday, April 6, the Spanish pilgrims have an audience with the Holy Father, which will begin at 9:30am and at 5:30pm the same day, they will have a special Mass in Saint Paul Outside the Walls.
The World Youth Day Cross will arrive in Madrid this week and there will be an official ceremony on April 10 (Good Friday), forming part of the regular Good Friday services presided by Cardinal Rouco in the Almudena Cathedral, beginning at 5pm. At the end of the celebration, the Cross, accompanied by the Cardinal, will be carried by young people through the streets of Madrid, to Plaza de Canalejas. There, the Cross will enter to form part of the traditional Holy Week procession in the city. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 3/4/2009)