It was the first World Youth Day and foreign trip of Pope Benedict XVI, who joined the festival on 18 August.

This meeting was decided by the previous pope, John Paul II, during the Toronto World Youth Day of 2002.

[1]Originally, Pope John Paul II was to attend the World Youth Day in Cologne.

As he died four months earlier, it was instead his successor Pope Benedict XVI's first apostolic journey.

Most pilgrims to the World Youth Day made their plans to come while John Paul II was still Pope, and had hoped to see him.