Registration for World Youth Day to be completed by April 15

Young Ukrainians can register by April 15 to participate in the World Youth Day to be held in Madrid on August 16-21.

Registration is conducted by the Committee on Matters of Youth of the Ukrainian Greek
Catholic Church (UGCC) on the instruction of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC. The committee is in charge of the formation and preparation of the Ukrainian delegation for the event. One can register either by approaching directly the committees on matters of youth of each eparchy of the UGCC, where the lists of the pilgrims will be compiled, or by filling a form at Dyven Svit.

On the basis of the form, the information will be sent to the committee of the eparchy in whose territory the applicant lives.

Let us remind that approximately two million pilgrims from over 80 countries of the world will come to meet with Pope Benedict XVI in Madrid.

The World Youth Day was initiated in 1984 when Pope John Paul II called the youth of Rome to celebrate jointly the Year of Redemption. In 1985, the pope published an address to the youth of the world and instituted World Youth Days. They were held in Buenos Aires, where approximately a million young people attended, in Santiago De Compostela, Czestochowa, Denver, Manila (approximately 4 million people), Paris, Rome, Toronto, Cologne, and Sidney.

Ukrainian youth participated the World Youth Day for the first time in 1991.

The program of the event includes prayers, catecheses, festivals, concerts, performances, excursions, and much more. The World Youth Day in Madrid also has an anthem.

On November 26, 2010, the Ukrainian-language version of the website of the World Youth Day appeared. Before that time, the information on the website was available only in Spanish, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Polish. One can also find information about the event in Ukrainian on social networks.

On January 14, 2011, in Madrid, Pope John Paul II was declared the patron of the World Youth Day.