Almost 340,000 signed up for Youth Day

(ANSA) - Vatican City, July 20 - As of Wednesday 335,437 young people have signed up for the Catholic Church's 31st World Youth Day, to be held in the Polish city of Krakow from July 26-31. Organizers said anywhere between 1.5 and 1.8 million people are expected at the Campus of Mercy, a 255-hectare area where most of the main events will take place.
    Another 300,000 are expected in the city of Czestochowa.
    The largest groups are, in descending order, Polish, Italian, French, Spanish, American, German, Ukrainian and Portuguese.
    Also expected are almost 1,000 bishops and some 70 cardinals in what could be the largest assembly of Catholic high-ranking clergy since the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65, said Polish bishops spokesman Father Pawel Rytel-Andrianik.
    Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said there are no specific security concerns.
    "There are no particular security concerns in Poland (and) no changes have been made in the preparations," he said. "They recently hosted a NATO summit and everything went smoothly".
    Lombardi had been asked about possible security issues in the wake of a Bastille Day terrorist attack in Nice that claimed 84 lives.