World youth day celebrations begin in Germany

Tens of thousands of young people descended on Cologne in Germany today to kick off the 20th World Youth Day celebrations that will include German-born Pope Benedict XVI’s first foreign trip.

German leaders of the Roman Catholic Church were to hold opening masses in the western cities of Cologne, Bonn and Duesseldorf.

Later today, music, dance and theatre festivals were planned for the young pilgrims from around the world. Organisers said some 400,000 people had registered to attend the events.

Benedict was to join the festival on Thursday and close the event with a huge open-air mass outside Cologne on Sunday.