August 18, 2011 – The Climax and high point of DAY 3 of World Youth Day 2011 is the Welcoming ceremony at Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid which Pope Benedict XVI presided. Thousands upon thousands of young pilgrims were present. Actually Plaza de Cibeles is quite deceiving. The crowd in front of the Palacio de Cibeles or the City hall of Madrid is not the entire crowd of WYD. There are still crowds surrounding the Plaza who are following the ceremony thru loudspeakers and giant LCD Monitors. There are also large crowds gathered a few blocks away in Plaza de Colon. The gathering crowd was massive and was estimated by the Police to be 1.4 Million. The loud and joyful pilgrims all fell quiet, silent and attentive when the Pope began reading his Message to the Youth. As far as Plaza de Colon, Pilgrims were following the words of Pope Benedict XVI as if he was just in front of them. The good behavior of the Pilgrims were mind boggling and outstanding. If this was a rock concert, there could have been some arrests as early as evening falls. But there was none. Pope Benedict XVI’s message echoed throughout Madrid. Every phrase which the Pope emphasize is met with applause and cheers from the crowd. That Pope ended the ceremony with a beautiful prayer. That night, a group of 100 protesters gathered again at Plaza de Sol, but Police were quick to act and the protest did not snowballed. Below are the moments of the Welcoming ceremony and People following the Ceremony.

WELCOMING CEREMONY

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PILGRIMS FOLLOWING THE EVENT

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