The last international celebration of World Youth Day (WYD) was last summer, August 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal.
WYD is a week-long international Catholic Youth event. It began by Pope St. John Paul II and held in 1986 in Rome. In 1993 it was in Denver. Currently, it is held every three years; typically, on a different continent. Registered attendance has been 300,000 to over 2 Million! The concluding Papal Sending Forth Mass often brings in additional crowds with a high of 5 Million in Manila (1995).
World Youth Day permeates an entire city and surrounding area. There is no place one can go throughout an entire metropolitan area without being within the WYD sphere of young people coming together in our Lord’s name from almost every country in the world. Most people will never experience crowds such as these and it, truly, is a massive effort by Church, city and state all working together.
It begins with an opening Mass and an opening Papal appearance. It concludes with a Saturday Evening Vigil (led by the Pope) and Sunday Sending Forth Mass with the Pope. Each pilgrim (this is a pilgrimage, not a vacation) has an itinerary for the day which runs from early morning through the evening with catechesis happening each day throughout the city at multiple sites led by a bishop of your language. Sites may be in groups of a few hundred to a few thousand. Special events are occurring simultaneously each day, all day all throughout the city.
Pilgrims spend the day on Saturday hiking to a prescribed site where they “take up residence” (a sleeping bag in the outdoors in a very congested setting) awaiting a Saturday Evening Vigil Service and the next morning’s Mass (which is a very long, yet dramatic and profound experience). There is no denying the exhaustion that can occur amid the energy of hundreds of thousands of young people coming together in one common faith endlessly singing, dancing, praying and praising in the name of our Lord, Jesus (and swapping souvenir pins, hats, shirts, flags & more).
We have been to many WYDs and the words “the Church Universal” takes on a whole new meaning for all participating. If you are interested, or have other questions contact Colleen Misiak or Deacon Ric. We can go over the details. You must be 16 years of age at the time of the trip.