Six heads of state for WYD Closing mass
The presidents of Costa Rica, Colombia, Portugal, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras will be at the closing mass of the World Youth Day (WYD) to be celebrated on Sunday by Pope Francis in Metro Park.
Early on Saturday scores of thousands of pilgrims and Panamanian Catholics headed for the park to ensure their place for the vigil starting at 6 p.m. with Pope Francis . The president of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, his wife and first lady, Claudia Dobles, and the ruler of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, were already in the Panamanian capital and they participated in the consecration mass of the new altar of the Cathedral Basilica Santa María La Antigua in Casco Viejo.
It is expected that on Sunday it will be announced that the next WYD will be held in Portugal, something Portuguese bishops leaked a few weeks ago, which explains hence the presence of President Rebelo de Sousa in the Panamanian capital.
The Chancellery of Panama has indicated that the presidents are not expected to hold bilateral meetings as they will only come to the Mass, the central act of the last day of the WYD, which officially began last Tuesday, a day before the arrival of the Pope.
The mass Mass for WYD is scheduled for 8 a.m. on Sunday from 08.00 local time (13.00 GMT) in Campo San Juan Pablo II, located in the Metro Park, where the organizers they expect up to 600,000 people.
There is a large of 9 meters high, platform as well as towers with giant screens so that attendees can see the mass from all points.
On Friday, January 26 the Pontiff witnessed who a viacrucis,(stations of the cross) on the giant structure built for WYD on the Cinta Costera. During his homilies he has and called for the repudiation of exclusion and marginalization , violence against women and corruption, while the religious have been asked to listen to the suffering of the people.
According to the organizers, about 90,000 pilgrims participated in WYD, in addition to hundreds of bishops, and thousands of priests .and some
