To pay their way, the youths have worked and served in local parishes, but they will also receive help from the Church and benefactors, said Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Franciscan Custodian of the Holy Land.
Among the pilgrims «is a group of 10 boys from the small Catholic Jewish communities,» although almost all of the youths are Palestinians, the Franciscan told the Italian bishops’ SIR news agency.
The priest said he expects the young people would take to Cologne «a testimony of peace, more enriched by these last years of violence.»
Moreover, it will be important for the youngsters «to meet with other contemporaries with whom they share a journey of faith,» he said. «We are a minority, and that is why we hope that WYD will not only be a celebration but an intense experience of faith and of the Church which will be useful to our parishes.
«I am certain that our young people will return from Cologne full of experiences to be translated into their life of faith, and to go beyond sorrow and suffering.»
