Ardagh and Clonmacnois Diocesan Youth Ministry

The cross and icon of World Youth Day have left Madrid and are touring the rest of Spain. The first leg of the journey beings in one of the provinces farthest from Madrid: cross and icon are being flown 1700 kilometers to reach the Canary Islands in the Atlantic, just off the African coast. José María, a young priest from Alcalá, is in charge of giving them a lift to Madrid's Barajas airport from where they'll leave town until they will return for World Youth Day next year.

"It's really rather heavy!" sighed one of the helpers unloading the cross from the van. "Really?", teased him Fr. José María, "the ladies who put it in the van this morning didn't complain at all".

Waiting among all the boxes and packages the cross makes for a surprising sight, but only a couple of hours later it will be disassembled and travel in a container, as just another piece of cargo. And while nothing on the outside gives away the powerful symbolic meaning of the object on the inside, all can agree that it is . rather heavy.

See http://en.madrid11.com/JMJ2011ING/REVISTA/articulos/GestionNoticias_301_... for more.