Contact: Andrew Walther, Knights of Columbus, 203-752-4253

NEW HAVEN, Conn., May 26, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- English-language participants at this summer's World Youth Day (WYD) will have the benefit of a youth-festival facility providing English-language programming while in Madrid.

The Knights of Columbus and the Sisters of Life are sponsoring and hosting the pilgrim center, called "Love and Life: A Home for English-Speaking Pilgrims." The site is cosponsored by Holy Cross Family Ministries, Canada's Salt and Light Television Network, the Apostleship of Prayer, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), World Youth Alliance and the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family.

The Knights of Columbus and Sisters of Life hosted a smaller-scale pilgrim center at World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, Australia. The center in Madrid will be open to all WYD pilgrims, free of charge.

The "Love and Life" center's location will be Madrid's Palacio de Deportes, the city's premiere civic and sports arena. The air-conditioned facility seats 15,000 in its main event hall and its exhibition areas will contain a chapel specially constructed for WYD, as well as informational displays, an art show and other items of information and support for the young visitors to Spain's capital city.

More than 1 million pilgrims are expected to participate in WYD events, which begin Tuesday, Aug. 16, and end Sunday, Aug. 21, with an open-air Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI at Madrid's Cuatro Vientos (Four Winds) Airport.

"The Knights of Columbus is pleased to join the Sisters of Life again and, together with our many cosponsors, provide a place of rest, prayer and fellowship for English-speaking pilgrims from around the world," said Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson. "World Youth Day is not only an event, it's an experience -- an unforgettable week. We hope that our 'Love and Life' site will serve as a grace-filled place for young pilgrims to join friends and to participate in a spectacular outpouring of faith."

Activities at the center, scheduled around the WYD program of events, will include Masses and devotions, catechesis sessions, concerts, speakers, witness testimonies, prayer, movie screenings, and more. Notable events include a Eucharistic procession and an outdoor Way of the Cross. Eucharistic adoration and sacramental confession will be available continuously at the site throughout the week.

WYD Pilgrims in Madrid or at home can be connected to the "Love and Life" site and its activities by means of a smartphone application, which will be available from its website, www.wydenglish.org.  More information is available from the site or by e-mailing wyd@kofc.org.