Before leading the World Youth Day Vigil, Pope Benedict met with young people with physical and mental disabilities. He visited the San José Institute, which assists in their care and specializes in treating epilepsy. 120 patients and workers from several Spanish centres were present, along with the Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela. ...read more

By Cindy Wooden / Catholic News Service MADRID — Pope Benedict XVI began his third day in Madrid by hearing confessions in one of 200 portable confessionals set up in a park for World Youth Day pilgrims. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the pope offered the sacrament of reconciliation to four World Youth ...read more

By Cindy Wooden / Catholic News Service MADRID — Pope Benedict XVI announced this morning that he will declare St. John of Avila the 34th “doctor of the church.” The Spanish saint, who lived 1500-1569, was famed as a preacher, confessor and spiritual writer. He is best known for the works “Audi, Filia” (“Listen, Daughter”), ...read more

A priest spends his entire life devoted to one task: to be modeled on Christ. This was Pope Benedict’s message this morning, as he celebrated a special World Youth Day Mass with seminarians. In the Cathedral of Santa María la Real de la Almudena, the Pope preached that since the holiness of the Church is ...read more

The Cross is “the icon of supreme love,” declared Benedict XVI, “which teaches us to love what God loves and in the way that he loves.” The Holy Father addressed the faithful following the Way of the Cross, which was commemorated on the streets of Madrid during World Youth Day. The hundreds of thousands present ...read more

A university education is about more than attaining technical ability or satisfying the demand for labor, says Pope Benedict. The Holy Father reflected on the role of the university during a meeting with young professors at the Basilica of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. His address followed his meeting with young women ...read more

S+L’s presentation of the Via Crucis at World Youth Day will now be starting at 12:45pm ET/9:45am PT, 15 minutes earlier than previously advertised. Our broadcast begins with our World Youth Day pre-show, which will include a talk by Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB, given today at the WYD Love and Life Site. Fr. Rosica’s address ...read more

Yesterday in Madrid, Benedict XVI joined all of the World Youth Day pilgrims at the Papal Welcome Ceremony. This morning he met with a more specific audience, comprised of young women religious. During his his address at the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, the Holy Father exhorted women religious to embrace a “Gospel ...read more

“Listen regularly every day” to the words of Jesus, Pope Benedict told young people gathered in Madrid’s Plaza de Cibeles, “as if he were the one friend who does not deceive.” Following an initial address at the start of the Welcome Ceremony liturgy, the Holy Father delivered a longer homily. Drawing upon the World Youth ...read more

Today Madrid is “the capital of the world’s young people,” declared Pope Benedict XVI, soon after he arrived at Plaza de Cibeles. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims at the Papal Welcome Ceremony cheered in agreement. The Pope also offered what could be interpreted as a response to those who have protested his visit. The Holy ...read more