The World Meeting of Catholic Youth opens in the Spanish capital. About a million people will gather for it. The “Outraged” movement is protesting the high costs of the forum.

The World Meeting of Catholic Youth opens in the Spanish capital, Madrid, on the evening of Tuesday, August 16, and organizers estimate it will bring together about a million people. The six-day Catholic gathering will begin with a worship service in the Cibeles Square in the center of the capital.

The forum program includes not only services but also more than 300 cultural events. A high point will be the mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday, August 21, at Cuatro Vientos airfield near Madrid. The pontiff is expected to arrive in Madrid on August 18.

Benedict’s predecessor, John Paul II, initiated the World Meetings of Catholic Youth. The event is held every two or three years. Benedict XVI called it a “feast of faith.”

Convention amid mass protests

This year’s gathering coincided with a period of mass social protests in Spain. Many in that country are unhappy with the left-liberal course of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s government, which has been forced to call early general elections for Nov. 20 due to continued social ferment in the country. Some of Zapatero’s reforms, such as the legalization of same-sex marriage, express divorce, and the legalization of abortion, have led to serious conflicts with the Catholic Church.

Meanwhile, social protest activists from the “Indignados” (“Indignados”) movement are annoyed that the Madrid authorities dispersed demonstrators who had settled in the central square of the capital Puerta del Sol due to the arrival of Benedict XVI for the World Meeting of Catholic Youth.

In this context, the “Outraged” called for new demonstrations – against the visit of the Pope, the expulsion of protesters from the Puerta del Sol and the high costs of the Catholic gathering.