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The most amazing part followed. By shere chance, when leaving the area where the stations of the cross were held, the green team found itself in a section where the Pope was due to come past in his Popemobile. Then, we were moved into an even better position by the police! We were VERY up close and personal!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was SO exciting to get so close to the presence of His Holiness. All around there were people on other people’s shoulders trying to get closer. Being part of him coming past is something we’ll never forget. We have some FANTASTIC footage!!

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!! A&B pilgrims can be very proud of themselves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We’ve just come back from the Stations of the Cross. Traditional, life-size statues had been brought from all over Spain which are used during Spanish Semana Santa (Holy Week). We could only view the proceedings on big screens, and even then we couldn’t necessarily see very well. In teams, everyone followed along in the pilgrims’ booklets we had, reading and reflecting on the 14 stations (slightly different to how we do them in England). It was really challenging and A&B managed to keep a real sense of reflection and prayer, despite the noise and distractions around.

As a gesture of gratitude towards the large number of callings which arise during WYD, the Holy Father will travel to San Lorenzo de El Escorial (40 kilometres from Madrid) in order to meet with the more than one thousand young nuns in the Kings’ Patio of the monastery. Afterwards, just before midday, Benedict XVI will head towards the impressive Basilica to meet with the young university professors in a gathering organised at the express request (with precedent in Regensburg, Germany, etc.), emphasising his continual desire to contribute to the reflection between science and faith.

We will of course see him this evening at the Stations of the Cross………..

..just been to our Catechesis site, listened to some great music (Steve Curtis band we think – bit like Hillsong if you know Hillsong – if you don’t, check out YouTube). We were invited to open our hearts, open our minds and open our hands, that we might serve others. Very powerful. The main speaker today was the Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan. He reminded us that the last two days’ catechesis were about being firm in our faith and rooted in  Jesus Christ, and that he was privileged to talk to us today about the results, the outcome of that. We have been called to share our faith, which is the missionary, evangelisation aspect of the theme of this World Youth Day.  Faith is contagious and we should be busting to share it with others!!!

How about this for a great photo?! Wish I could say we’d taken it – it’s one of the official ones. But isn’t it great?!!!

This evening we saw the Pope! The astmosphere was amazing. Everyone felt together as one. It was very colourful seeing all the different flags. Our A&B flag was clearly distinguished from all of the rest of them as it’s so different. We love it and always look for it in the crowds. Seeing the Popemobile again brought back memories from Hyde Park last year, although this time we mostly saw him on the big screen due to the masses of people. The streets were crammed and the locals aided us in cooling down through the use of buckets of water and hoses thrown from buildings.