Join in with WYD23 from home, and follow the journey of our 25 pilgrims!
Join in with WYD23 from home, and follow the journey of our 26 pilgrims!
- Follow our social media channels for live updates from the group of pilgrims. Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
- View the live stream of St. Peter’s Square here to follow Pope Francis’ apostolic journey to Lisbon on August 2nd.
Missed out on WYD this time? Will you be aged 18-35 in Summer 2027? Click here to register your interest.
World Youth Day is an international gathering of young people, ages 16 to 35, with the Pope.
It takes place every two to three years in different cities all over the globe. It has a strong Catholic identity and includes a celebration of Mass with the Pope, but it’s open to all.
In addition to celebrating young people, World Youth Day is an “expression of the universal Church and a powerful moment of evangelisation for the world of youth.”
Thousands and thousands of young people gather together for several days with accommodations ranging from camping to lodging in churches. More than 400,000 young people have officially registered to attend and take part in the 2023 International World Youth Day celebration in Lisbon, Portugal.
The most highly-attended WYD was in Manila in 1995, with more than 5 million people in attendance. After celebrating Mass, Pope John Paul II had to take a helicopter to get through the crowds, trading in the popemobile.
Established by St. John Paul II in his papacy, the first official World Youth Day was in 1986 in Rome, Italy. The inspiration for its institution began two years earlier, at the close of the Holy Year of Redemption in 1984. JPII invited an International Jubilee of youth to celebrate Palm Sunday in St. Peter’s Square, and over 300,000 youth responded.
The following year (1985) was also the U.N.’s International Year of the Youth, and JPII again invited young people to Rome and the Vatican. He also wrote the apostolic letter Dilecti Amici, meaning “Dear Friends,” addressing it to the “youth of the world.”
Since man is the fundamental and at the same time the daily way of the Church, it is easy to understand why the Church attributes special importance to the period of youth as a key stage in the life of every human being. You young people are the ones who embody this youth: you are the youth of the nations and societies, the youth of every family and of all humanity; you are also the youth of the Church. We are all looking to you, for all of us, thanks to you, in a certain sense continually become young again. So your youth is not just your own property, your personal property or the property of a generation: it belongs to the whole of that space that every man traverses in his life’s journey, and at the same time it is a special possession belonging to everyone. It is a possession of humanity itself.
- St. Pope John Paul II, Dilecti Amici (March 31, 1985)
A few months after writing Dielecti Amici, JPII announced the institution of World Youth Day on December 20, 1985, for the upcoming Palm Sunday in 1986. He selected Palm Sunday as it was the day “the children of Jerusalem” met Jesus upon his entrance to Jerusalem after 40 days in the desert.
Since then, there have been 15 International World Youth Day celebrations spanning the globe and drawing in millions of young Catholics from all over. WYD is celebrated every two or three years, though there is always a smaller celebration in Rome in the “off” years.
The 2023 World Youth Day theme comes from the Gospel of Luke. After the Angel Gabriel announced to her that she would bear the Son of God (the Annunciation), Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth (the Visitation). Pope Francis reflected,
“Mary could have focused on herself and her own worries and fears about her new condition. Instead, she entrusted herself completely to God. Her thoughts turned to Elizabeth. She got up and went forth, into the world of life and movement.”
Pope Francis
And she went quickly as a pilgrim and a beacon of hope. Thus, the 2023 WYD theme is “Mary arose and went with haste” (Lk 1:39).
Mary did not turn inward but outward to encounter her cousin Elizabeth, following God’s desire for her life.
“In these troubling times, when our human family, already tested by the trauma of the pandemic, is racked by the tragedy of war, Mary shows to all of us, and especially to you, young people like herself, the path of proximity and encounter. I hope and I firmly believe that the experience many of you will have in Lisbon next August will represent a new beginning for you, the young, and – with you – for humanity as a whole.”
Pope Francis
Read Pope Francis’ full message here.
Pope Francis will arrive on August 2nd and be present at World Youth Day until his departure on August 6th. View the live stream of St. Peter’s Square here to follow Pope Francis’ apostolic journey to Lisbon on August 2nd.
The following events highlight the Holy Father’s day-by-day schedule:
Find more details on the Offical Schedule for the Pope’s Visit to Lisbon here.
In tandem with the 2023 WYD theme, the official theme song of World Youth Day Lisbon is “Há Pressa No Ar,” which translates to “There’s a Rush in the Air.” The song was released in January and is inspired by the Gospel passage of Mary rushing to meet Elizabeth.
Recorded in Portuguese and in an international version featuring Portuguese, English, Spanish, French, and Italian, the song was written by Fr. João Paulo Vaz with musical arrangements by musician Carlos Garcia.
In tandem with the Marian theme of the 2023 WYD, the Official Prayer for World Youth Day calls on the intercession of Our Lady of the Visitation. Those attending World Youth Day or those joining in its celebration through prayer are invited to pray the Pilgrims’ Prayer below.
Our Lady of the Visitation, you who left in haste towards the mountain to meet Elizabeth, lead us also to meet all those who await us to deliver them the living Gospel: Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord! We will go in a hurry, with no distraction or delay, but with readiness and joy. We will go peacefully, because those who take Christ take peace, and welldoing is the best wellbeing. Our Lady of the Visitation, with your inspiration, this World Youth Day will be the mutual celebration of the Christ we take, as You once did. Make it a time of testimony and sharing, fraternization, and giving thanks, each of us looking for the others who always wait. With you, we will continue on this path of gathering, so that our world will gather as well, in fraternity, justice and peace. Help us, Our Lady of the Visitation, to bring Christ to everyone, obeying the Father, in the love of the Spirit!
Content credit / sources: Hallow, CBCEW, www.lisboa2023.org/en
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