January 16, 2011. (Romereports.com) World Youth Day in Rio is still over a year away, but some cities are already putting their name out, hoping to host the World Youth Day after Brazil.

Right now the most popular city is Krakow, Poland. The Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, served as John Paul II's secretary and is a strong advocate of celebrating World Youth Day 2015 in John Paul II's native city, to mark 10 years since he passed away. If approved, it would be the second time World Youth Day is celebrated in Poland. The first was in 1991 in the city of Czestochowa.


London is also on the list.  On Facebook there is already a page asking for support from all over the world for Benedict XVI to return to the UK in 2016. He also recently visited the country in September of 2010.

Others would like to see World Youth Day go to Asia, where it has only been held once. In 1995, more than four million young people met with John Paul II in the Philippine capital of Manila. If the Vatican decides to return to Asia, many believe it would be in Seoul, South Korea. It's the country with the highest number of conversions in the world. Every year, 150,000 Koreans are baptized.

Also being considered are countries such as India, Honduras, Latvia, and Peru. Also an African country is in the picture for World Youth Day after the pope's visits to Benin, Cameroon and Angola.

But the only thing for sure is the date on which the pope will announce the name of the next location. On July 28, 2013 at the closing Mass of World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro.


PH/AE
RR
HC
-BN