At the Papal Mass for World Youth Day in Australia on Sunday, July 20, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI announced that the next World Youth Day, scheduled for 2011, will be held in Madrid, Spain. The choice, reports the Times of London, "is said by Church sources to be the Pope’s personal preference." The newspaper speculates that this may be because "Spain has a deeply Roman Catholic tradition," while Sydney, Australia, is "a secular city."
But could there be more to the choice? The Times itself provides evidence that there might be, noting that "the country is strongly divided between fervent believers and progressive secularists anxious to distance Spain from its Catholic past." I've reported in the past on the Spanish Socialist government's attempt to separate Church and state in Spain, including permitting abortion and divorce, reducing funding for churches (which historically have received state funds in Spain), legalizing homosexual marriage, and requiring that schools promote all of the above.
Pope Benedict's choice of Madrid to host the next World Youth Day may be as much about Spain's future as about her past. The Holy Father told the young people gathered in Sydney that "the Lord is asking you to be prophets of this new age, messengers of his love, drawing people to the Father and building a future of hope for all humanity." By setting his sights on an historically Catholic country where the Faith is now under attack, Pope Benedict XVI might well be attempting to turn the tide.