Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 30) – The international celebration of World Youth Day will take place in Lisbon, Portugal on Aug. 1-6 after it was postponed last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year, at least 600,000 delegates from all over the world are expected to attend the global gathering.
According to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, at least 1,500 Filipino will attend the six-day event.
Pope Francis will preside over the World Youth Day celebration, his first foreign trip after undergoing hernia surgery last June.
The Argentine pontiff will lead the praying of the rosary at the Chapel of the Apparitions. He will be accompanied by youths suffering from illness.
He will visit the Shrine of Fátima and will have a meeting with the Jesuits at the Colégio de S. João de Brito.
The head of the Catholic Church will also preside over the Eucharistic celebration for World Youth Day on Aug. 6 at Campo da Graça.
With this year’s theme “Mary arose and went with haste” from the Gospel of Luke, Pope Francis urged the Catholic youth to emulate the Blessed Virgin Mary’s readiness to “set out on a journey to help others.”
“I would like to see a seed for the world’s future. A world where love is at the center, where we can sense that we are brothers and sisters,” Pope Francis said in a video posted on Thursday.
“We are at war; we need something else. A world that is not afraid of witnessing to the Gospel,” he added.
Initiated in 1986 by Pope John Paul II, World Youth Day is held every three years. It was last celebrated in Panama City in 2019 and was postponed in 2022 due to the pandemic.
Pope John Paul II established World Youth Day as an international gathering of youth for prayer, worship, and celebration of the Catholic faith after seeing a huge crowd of young people gathered during the International Jubilee of Youth in 1984.
In 1995, the global gathering was celebrated in Manila and was attended by at least 450,000 pilgrims.
