The Hyde Park vigil taking place today is apparently not quite sold out. As Cristina Odone revealed on her Telegraph blog, the Diocese of Westminster recently sent out an urgent message to Catholic school administrators. The message was to be printed out by each recipient, and taken straight to the headmaster’s office. “Please organise a school trip to the Pope’s Hyde Park vigil,” it begged them. Or else.
But, Cristina noted, it would be naïve to expect some sort of spontaneous “youthful outpouring of faith and devotion”. How many young people do you know who would patiently sit through a religious service for nine whole hours?
