About a year ago, I wrote a piece arguing that this summer's World Youth Day is going to be unpopular in the West. It got a lot of attention at the time, as I recall. Most people seemed to agree, with only a small contingent of the World-Youth-Day-is-the-only-thing-that-matters crowd burning me in effigy!

Anyway, I was interested this morning to read that the German Bishops are apparently now actively discouraging minors from going to Rio. Apparently the safety concerns have made them just a little too squeamish to go through with backing it!

While it doesn't actually change anything in terms of what we already knew about this year's event (there won't be many Westeners there, and those who do go will come back with stories of crime!) the fact that a Bishops' Conference is actively telling it's under-18s not to go to World Youth Day is an interesting. More than that, it's likely to raise questions for the future. Questions about the wisdom of holding the event in cities which so much of the world are fearful of, and perhaps even questions about the future of World Youth Day as a huge, single event.

For a while now, we have been one of many voices pushing the Vatican to take a serious look at the satellite model of World Youth Day, with lots of linked events in different cities around the world. It's an idea that really could work!

By Elie Gardner

RIO DE JANEIRO (CNS) -- Carlos Rojas is the keeper of 240 keys at Our Lady of Consolation Church in Vidigal, a hillside slum in south Rio de Janeiro. He opens the church each morning, guards, cleans and closes it each night.

Before the church was built eight years ago, priests celebrated Mass in the street. Wanting their own space, Catholics in the community walked the hillside, going door-to-door, collecting signatures and eventually winning enough support to build their own sanctuary.

Brazil has more Catholics than any country in the world. In 1980 Blessed John Paul II visited the favela, or slum, and left his gold cross-shaped ring there, urging the community to sell it and use the money to better living conditions. Rojas was on the committee that helped to coordinate the visit.

In July, another pope will come to Brazil for World Youth Day. While Rojas said he quietly hoped for another papal visit, he said another favela deserves the chance to experience what Vidigal did in 1980. Since Blessed John Paul's visit to Vidigal, Rojas said the Catholic Church has played a pivotal role in helping the once-dangerous and drug-ridden neighborhood improve.

"The only fight, the only one that the church will serve, is the noble one for truth and justice, the one for the real good, the one where the church is at one with each man," Blessed John Paul told the people of Vidigal.

Go, read the rest...

This is a great video on a great topic, but it's really badly researched. Apparently the World Day of Youth happens every two years and brings together hundreds of young Catholics.

Come on, ITV... this is bordering on BBC levels of sloppiness!! Still, it's an interesting piece. Have a look...

The official song for World Youth Day 2013 in Rio has just been released. Take a look...

There isn't much English in it, but then as we've said before, there probably aren't going to be many English speakers there! Good song though.

By the way, just above Rio there is a big statue of Christ. If you look carefully in the video, and in other WYD materials, you might just catch the odd glimpse of it.

..actually, it was released ages ago and we've been really slow off the mark!! Anyway, enjoy...

As we've said before, there won't be many from these isles going to Rio, but those who do are in for some amazing experiences!

It seems as though the success of the London 2012 games has reignited the calls for the UK to host World Youth Day. Something which was rather inevitable, and possibly not such a bad thing. We know from these games, from the Papal Visit and from a load of other things that we've got a nice country, that we can run big events and that once the events actually start, the moaning that led up to them soon evaporates!

The bottom line is that it's not going to happen in 2015 or 2016. In other words, it's not going to come to London straight after Rio, but I think we can expect that it will eventually. Probably some time in the 2020s.

Last September we wrote an opinion piece about the possibility of WYD-UK. It was referenced by the Herald and several other bodies and seemed to set the standard of caution back then. At least, in the immediate term. Our view, for what it's worth, hasn't changed much since then. Short version: Let's concentrate on building local provision; It will come our way eventually, which is good, but having WYD straight after Rio would be a knee-jerk reaction for the wrong reasons.

Since writing that article I've learned something interesting about the possible genesis of an eventual UK WYD. After WYD 2005 in Cologne, a number of senior figures in CBCEW-land got around a table to...

Today sees ten years since World Youth Day 2002 - Pope John Paul II's last World Youth Day. This from RomeReports...

The (Canadian) Catholic Register also has a piece on the event here.

When we were in Mardid for World Youth Day last summer one of our group wanted to leave for the final Mass as early as we could so that we could get a spot near the front and close to the Pope. The old cynics in the group quickly told him that there was very little point. For one thing, the front blocks would be full of Italians who had barged their way in (a little racist, but probably true!) and for another thing, there really isn't much point trying to get right to the front at huge events. Unless you're right at the front, I pointed out, the issue is how close you are to one of the giant TV screens.

These thoughts re-entered my head a few months back when I was first told about 'World Youth Day at Home' - WYD @ Home, for short - and they're part of the reason why I think this initiative taking place at Aylesford next July is such a brilliant idea.

For those who haven't heard yet, WYD @ Home is next year's incarnation of the amazing Brightlights festival. It's being timed to coincide with the final Mass of World Youth Day, and the plan is to stream the vigil and Final Mass from Rio on a large screen. The aim, of course, is to help those who can't get out to Rio to still feel like they're a part of things.

This is a thoroughly brilliant idea. Not only for 2013, but perhaps also as a potential pattern for World Youth Days of the future. As with all WYD related discussions, this will no doubt draw some criticism, but let me explain...

The fact is that not many people from the western world will be in Rio next summer for WYD. There's not much point reigniting the debates around this. If you want to swot up, then check out what we wrote a few months back. The fact is that the uptake is going to be low, and the fact is that we need to think about how to respond to this in more constructive ways than just moaning!