Notebook: Kids In Motion
In a reporter's notebook filed exclusively for CBSNews.com, CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey provides an insider's look at traveling with the new pope.
One of the most striking aspects of World Youth Day is the constant motion. Kids with back packs, banners and the flags of dozens of nations seem to be going in all directions. Walk a block through the milling crowds and you'll hear a dozen languages, see ethnic garb you can't identify, and get a sense of the vast cultural tapestry that makes up the Catholic Church.
Guitars are the most poplar instrument, and there is a veritable concert of songs to be heard as groups pass.
As lunchtime approached, those who were not sprawled on lawns, benches, or sidewalks even, were moving towards feeding areas.
Kids swap bracelets, trinkets from home, addresses. How much of it is religious-based and how much hormonally-driven is a matter of perception.
At a press conference today church officials were asked what they thought about the fact that some groups were distributing condoms for free. The answers were vague enough to suggest that the more realistic among the churchmen here knew there are some things you cannot expect to overcome that easily.
But the church also has higher expectations than seem reasonable. For example, a spokesman said he felt that the image of the pope in the synagogue was one the youth would take home with them and remember for years to come. The event was played out live, but more of the kids were walking the streets, singing, chatting and just hanging out than were watching.
Hanging out seems to be the best part of this for many. In the corridor outside my room last night, half a dozen kids from California sprawled on the carpet, eating take-away food. They were on a tour of Europe, with the youth festival as its high point.
What the youngsters make of the new pope is hard to discern. Queries are met with the kind of respectful replies to be expected from believers talking about their supreme leader. But one has the impression that the kids are well aware that Benedict cannot, and does not want, to be John Paul II. Indeed, he has looked more like he is trying hard than actually enjoying the experience.
One of the differences between meetings with this pope and the last one is that the chants and shouts are sometimes silenced by officials. One cannot recall an instance where anyone told those chanting for John Paul II to "shush," but no one seems offended by it. A German reporter from the Vatican press corps laughed and explained it this way: "This is Germany, and someone is always telling you to shut up, and we do. It's a German thing."
So is the weather, at least in this part of the country. The day began kindly enough: clear skies, not as hot as yesterday. But by afternoon the clouds rolled in, the thunder rumbled, and within minutes there was a torrential downpour. Naturally, the kids kept on walking, and singing, just like Woodstock in a way – except, of course, the ones here were high on a belief, rather than substances.