Record-breaking Pilgrimages
World Youth Day is a major Catholic Pilgrimage, specifically for people aged 16–35. It is held internationally every 2–3 years. In 2005, it was held in Cologne, Germany. In 1995, the largest gathering of all time was to World Youth Day in Manila, Philippines, where four million people from all over the world attended.
In the media both manifestations are usually referred to as 'pilgrimages', but actually in the strict meaning of the word they are not pilgrimages as they are (each time) once-only religious gatherings for a specific purpose (funeral, religious renewal for the youth) and not focused at a shrine based cultus-object for veneration. However, since the funeral, the proper grave of John Paul II is actually indeed becoming a new site of pilgrimage in Rome.
Read more about this topic: Christian Pilgrimage
Famous quotes containing the word pilgrimages:
“This is my playes last scene, here heavens appoint
My pilgrimages last mile; and my race
Idly, yet quickly runne, hath this last pace,
My spans last inch, my minutes last point,
And gluttonous death, will instantly unjoynt
My body, and soule, and I shall sleepe a space,”
—John Donne (1572–1631)