TORONTO (voa) – Pope John Paul meets with his Canadian hosts in Toronto Saturday, then takes part in a prayer service with young Catholic pilgrims participating in World Youth Day.
The Pope is scheduled to hold talks with Canada’s Prime Minister Jean Chretien and other political and religious leaders. Late in the day, he travels to a 130-hectare park (called Downsview Lands) overlooking the northern part of Toronto to hold an open-air prayer vigil with young Catholics.
Friday, about 250,000 young people gathered in downtown Toronto to watch a three-hour re-enactment of the last days of Jesus Christ. The Pope viewed the “Way of the Cross” procession on satellite television from a retreat house north of the city on Strawberry island in Lake Simcoe, where he rested most of the day.
The 82-year-old spiritual leader of the world’s Catholics has been in frail health for some time. However, a Vatican spokesman (Joaquin Navarro-Valls) says the Pope is looking forward to the culmination of World Youth Day, an open-air mass on Sunday, where hundreds of thousands of young Catholics from 170 countries are expected to attend.
Pope John Paul established World Youth Day in 1987 to unite young Catholics around the world. It is held every two years. John Paul continues his 10-day tour of the Americas Monday, when he flies to Guatemala and later visits Mexico. This is the Pope’s 97th foreign trip.
