Wednesday, May 28, 2003
German churches go big in bid to win back faithful
A religious event set to draw up to 300,000 Christiansto Berlin over the next five days could prove a turning point in reviving the flagging fortunes of the church in Germany, according to the event's organisers.
The religious extravaganza, organised jointly at a cost of €18m ($21.4m, £13m) by the lay associations in the German Catholic and Protestant churches, comprises over 3,200 individual events, starting with an open-air service at Berlin's landmark Brandenburg gate.
Some 190,000 five-day tickets have been sold, costing €79 each, and an extra 30,000 daily visitors are expected. Up to 300,000 are likely to attend Sunday's final open-air service in front of the historic federal parliament building.
A total of 5,000 foreign visitors have registered, including many Jews, Muslims and representatives of other faiths. The Dalai Lama is due to speak in a huge open-air arena.
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