German environmentalists protest World Youth Day site in Cologne

Published: 2004-07-08

COLOGNE, Germany (CNS) -- German environmentalists have challenged a decision by World Youth Day organizers to hold the festival's vigil and closing Mass next year in a 400-acre park in the Cologne Archdiocese. Up to a million people are expected to participate in the Mass, to be celebrated Aug. 21, 2005, by Pope John Paul II. Parts of the site have been officially defined as a nature reserve. Environmentalists said that up to 130 species of plant and animal life that are on Germany's endangered list could be threatened by development linked to the event. Several other organizations have joined in a campaign to move the Mass elsewhere. "The main mistake was that the organizers decided on the site on the basis of political decisions, without having examined it," said Achim Baumgartner, an activist with the environmental group Friends of the Earth. Matthias Kopp, spokesman for the World Youth Day office, told Catholic News Service that the site was examined carefully, and that organizers have taken every possible precaution to limit the environmental damage.

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