2 euro 2005 Vatican – 20th International Youth Day in Cologne

The 20th World Youth Day 2005 (Weltjugendtag Koln) was a Catholic youth festival that started on August 16 and ran until August 21, 2005 in Cologne, Germany. It was the first World Youth Day and the overseas trip of Pope Benedict XVI, who joined the festival on 18 August. This meeting was decided by the previous Pope John Paul II during World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto. The theme was “We have come to worship Him” (Matthew 2:2). About 400,000 young people from 200 countries attended during the week, and more than 1,000,000 came for the weekend. They were joined by about 600 bishops and cardinals, as well as 6,600 reporters.