1 MILLION EXPECTED FOR WYD 2005

Cologne,  (CWNews.com) - One month before Pope Benedict XVI  is scheduled to arrive in Cologne to join in the World Youth Day observance, organizers are expecting about 1 million young people to attend the ceremonies.

The visit to Cologne will be the Holy Father's first trip outside Italy since his election to the papacy in April. Although he will be visiting his native Germany, and will make a quick stop in Bonn to meet with President Horst Koehler, Vatican officials emphasize that the focus of the papal trip is World Youth Day rather than the German nation.

Pope Benedict will arrive in Cologne on August 18, for his first meeting with the young participants in World Youth Day. On August 19, he will lead the Stations of the Cross, and on August 20 he will join in an evening prayer vigil. On Sunday, August 21, the Pontiff will preside at the Mass closing the event. The altar where the Pope will celebrate Mass, on a field near the city, stands on top of a manmade hill. During preparatory meetings, organizers have brought earth from countries all around the world to build up the site, in one of the unique gestures of this year's World Youth Day. Another such gesture will be the giant mosaic of Pope John Paul II, fashioned from thousands of photos of the late Pontiff, taken in dozens of different countries during his travels.

It was Pope John Paul who announced, at the Toronto World Youth Day in 2002, that the next international observance would be held in Cologne. As he made that announcement, Pope John Paul recalled: "In the great cathedral of Cologne the relics of the Magi, the Wise Men from the East who followed the star which led them to Christ, are honored." During World Youth Day, those relics will be exposed behind the main altar of the cathedral.