Some scenes from World Youth Day

Here are some particularly great images from the World Youth Day events of the past few days, all courtesy of Catholic News Service:

Nuns sing and cheer as Pope Benedict XVI visits the Basilica of St. Lawrence in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain, Aug. 19. 

Robert Anthony Gualtieri, 17, Michelle Arabiana Cabalic, 20, and Ashley Roa Ignacio, 20, all from Colorado Springs, Colo., listen to a catechesis by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York at a Madrid church during World Youth Day Aug. 17. 

 

A priest hears confession from a pilgrim in one of the 200 temporary structures set up at Madrid’s Buen Retiro park on the first day of the World Youth Day Aug. 16.  

A woman rebukes a pilgrim who cries, holding on to her cross, Aug. 17 during a demonstration against what protesters claim is the expensive cost of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Madrid.

Pope Benedict XVI puts on a hat given to him by a young man during a World Youth Day welcoming ceremony in Madrid Aug. 18.

Children dressed as Swiss Guards welcome Pope Benedict XVI after he arrived at Madrid’s Barajas airport from Rome Aug. 18. 

Pope Benedict XVI addresses a gathering of young professors inside the Basilica of St. Lawrence in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain, Aug. 19. 

 

Pope Benedict XVI greets children outside the apostolic nunciature in Madrid Aug. 19. The pontiff was in Spain for the celebration of World Youth Day.

Pope Benedict XVI pretends to play a piano made out of cake after meeting young people for lunch in Madrid Aug.19. 

 

And finally…I think anyone who has ever attended World Youth Day can sympathize with this one!

Father Manuel de Santiago of Pontevedra, Spain, naps in a park in central in Madrid in the afternoon of Aug. 18 while attending World Youth Day celebrations. He wasn’t alone in catching up on some rest: hundreds of youths reposed in the grass before the beginning of the Stations of the Cross nearby.