Photos from World Youth Day

[rug]

http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2011/08/18/anti-pope-protesters-confront-madrid-police-and-catholic-wyd-pilgrims-pix/

[lunasun]

1. I liked the protest sign " Christ would have visited Somalia"

[Historic NY]

2. Some reception in a catholic country...The vatican should be paying

for the trip.

[struggle4progress]

3. I couldn't figure out from the Wikipedia article whether the state still subsidizes

Catholic schools or whether Spaniards can still choose whether 0.5% of their income tax went to Church or to government agencies

[struggle4progress]

4. Amid economic panic, pope heads for Spain (12 Aug)

Aug. 12, 2011
By John L Allen Jr

... Inside Spain, the crisis is felt especially keenly in the job market. Some 40 percent of the population under 30 is now unemployed, with few prospects of new job growth on the horizon. Add widespread perceptions of political corruption, and it’s little wonder that the streets of Madrid lately have been clogged with a protest movement of the indignados, or “indignant ones,” demanding a more effective response to the economic meltdown ...

The head of Madrid’s Housing and Economy Office, Percival Manglano, recently estimated that the influx of visitors from around the world will pump $143 million into the Spanish economy. Participants are also being asked to contribute 10 euros ($14) to a “Solidarity Fund” for poverty relief ...

http://ncronline.org/news/amid-economic-panic-pope-heads-spain

[struggle4progress]

5. Cost of Pope's trip under fire in crisis-hit Spain

By Daniel Silva | AFP – Tue, Aug 9, 2011

... Organisers of the World Youth Day celebrations put the price tag of staging the event, without counting security costs, at 50-60 million euros ($72-86 million) ...

Organisers say 80 percent of the cost of the event will be financed by payments from the young pilgrims, with the rest coming from donations by companies and individuals.

But critics argue that corporate sponsors are eligible for tax rebates of up to 80 percent of the amount they donate because the government declared World Youth Day celebrations to be an event of "exceptional public interest."

The Priests Forum, which groups together 120 priests from Madrid's poorest parishes, has criticised this loss of state revenues, especially since the government has slashed social spending and public worker salaries ...

http://news.yahoo.com/cost-popes-trip-under-fire-crisis-hit-spain-075449430.html

[AlecBGreen]

6. clearly ZombieHorde's minions are out of control

BRAINSS!!1!

[rug]

7. How do you like these?