Sunday – final mass with the Pope

Sunday morning in the area of the meeting, after a rainy and rather stormy night, we awoke for the mass with the Holy Father. The place was packed with people and the lines to the toilets were very long. We all got up and got organized for mass. When it was announced that on his way to the altar, the Holy Father would pass through the entire area in his Popemobile, the excitement increased. After some hours of preparations, the mobile of the Pope arrived. He passed through the area and most of us saw him waving to us in greeting.

After a few minutes of waiting, meant to calm the excited crowd, the Holy Father approached the altar for the start of the mass. In his opening words, the Holy Father thanked the young people for coming to Madrid and for their joy despite the rain and the cold. Then mass began, a multi lingual mass where the dominant languages were Latin and Spanish. During mass one could feel the sanctity in the air. The fact that parts of the mass were played by a full orchestra and were said in Latin helped create the atmosphere. It is important to note the homily of Pope Benedict, stressing the importance of the Church for faith, that access to Christ is through living in the Church and not from outside. He said: "You, too, have been given the extraordinary task of being disciples and missionaries of Christ in other lands and countries filled with young people who are looking for something greater… Share the faith and help them see they are right when their heart tells them that more authentic values do exist and they resist being seduced by the empty promises of a lifestyle which has no room for God".

The only thing that went wrong was that during the mass not everyone had the chance to receive communion because during night one of the temporary chapels containing the hosts had collapsed in the storm. Nevertheless, the atmosphere was breathtaking and during the final prayer of the Angelus (the traditional Catholic midday prayer) there were shouts of encouragement from all the participants.

After the mass, we went back on the underground to the place where we slept, after waiting a long time in line. In the evening we went to the Church of Saint Francis in order to receive communion as we had not during the mass with the Pope. Tomorrow we leave, bye bye Madrid.

View a short video clip here