Closing World Youth Day … and waiting for the next

Pilgrims pray before the beginning of Mass.

The morning of the final day of World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid dawned fair. A few clouds at first, but the weather was otherwise perfect. It would warm up significantly, as it did every morning, but so would we.

After the night before, we were ready for this Mass. The night before, the emcee had said that the pope wanted to come through the crowd in his popemobile, to greet all of us. We were excited — another chance to see the pope at close range! So long as we could clear the avenues between sections (a challenge indeed!), the pope would come through.

Quatro Vientos and the four winds

Fr. John Putzer stands behind the makeshift altar at the sports center in Velillas de San Antonio.

Saturday was the day on which hundreds of thousands of pilgrims would begin to gather at Quatro Vientos Aerodrome in the southwest of Madrid, where we would gather with the pope for a prayer service, Adoration, and, the following morning, Mass.

The day began early, with the priests of our group celebrating Mass. We gathered in the courtyard on the side of the sports center, where a temporary altar (a folding table with an altar cloth, crucifix, and world youth day candles) was set up. The pilgrims sat and knelt on the hard bricks as we began the day in prayer and celebration of the sacrifice of our Lord.

More than 60 US bishops expected to join World Youth Day pilgrims

Bishop W. Francis Malooly walks with teens as they carry the replica of the World Youth Day cross from St. Paul Church to St. Elizabeth Church during the Catholic youth cross pilgrimage in Wilmington, Del., April 16. Youths around the globe are preparing for the international World Youth Day in August. It will take place in Madrid, Spain, with Pope Benedict XVI. (CNS photo/Don Blake, The Dialog)