Special cross arrives in Soo

Celeste and Choraline Burton (shown at left at St. Jerome's Church) were among hundreds of Saultites who welcomed the World Youth Day Cross to the city on Friday.

The four-metre-high, 31 kg. wooden cross has been visiting communities across Canada to publicize this year's World Youth Day, which is expected to draw almost half-a-million youth to Toronto July 23-28.

The World Youth Day Cross was originally entrusted to the youth of the world by Pope John Paul II during the Jubilee Year of the Redemption.

This year, it arrived in Canada in April and has since visited parish churches, prisons, youth detention centres, schools, universities, national historic sites, downtown streets, shopping malls, nightclub districts and parks.

The Pope has expressed a strong desire to be in Toronto for World Youth Day. When he presented the cross to Canadian youth last April, he said: “Until we meet in Toronto!”

The World Youth Day Cross was to visit numerous locations in the Sault on Friday and Saturday before leaving for Blind River.

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