In Germany, pope to meet with youths, Muslims, visit synagogue

Published: 2005-07-20

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In addition to several meetings with young Catholics for World Youth Day, Pope Benedict XVI's Aug. 18-21 trip to Germany also will feature a cruise down the Rhine River, a visit to a synagogue and meetings with Muslim and ecumenical leaders. More than 800,000 young people from around the globe are expected in Cologne for the World Youth Day celebration; prayers, meetings and a lunch with a few of them form the centerpiece of the papal itinerary. Seminarians participating in the World Youth Day gathering, the German bishops and organizers of the youth festival also will have their own meetings with the pope. But Pope Benedict's first foreign trip and his first return to his German homeland following his April 19 election also features meetings with the German president and with other civic and political leaders.

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