Altar serving is ‘a service to God and others’

More than 50,000 pilgrims representing various dioceses across 20 European countries have come to Rome to participate in the 13th International Pilgrimage of Altar Servers 2024, taking place from 29 July to 3 August.

Coetus Internationalis Ministrantium (cim), an international association for altar boys and girls, has been organizing these special pilgrimages to Rome since 1961.

Approximately 35,000 altar servers from Germany are accompanied by the President of the Commission for Youth Ministry of the German Bishops’ Conference, Auxiliary Bishop Johannes Wübbe (Osnabrück), as well as by numerous members of the German Bishops’ Conference. Also participating are youths from other European countries, including Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Ukraine.

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, sj, Archbishop of Luxembourg and cim President, mentioned that this year’s motto, “With You”, is taken from the Book of Isaiah 41:10. This “you”, the Cardinal said, refers first of all to God: “Christ, who we are serving in the liturgy”. However, this “you” is also extended to the “group of friends” making the pilgrimage together. This “you” has a broader meaning”, the Cardinal said, “because we cannot serve Christ without serving our sisters and brothers”. In this regard, a particularly important subject for altar servers to focus on — given that they are mostly teenagers — Cardinal Hollerich said, is bullying. The prelate stressed that the internet has transformed bullying into “something awful”.

Altar servers, he said, “should never bully, but always be on the side of the weakest in their class or place of work.”

“The pilgrimage to Rome enables us to experience the diversity and unity of our global community of altar servers”.

During his opening address at the celebration with the Holy Father, Cardinal Hollerich remarked that we are true friends only when we extend our hands to serve and help those in need: “the poor, the persecuted, the oppressed, the homeless, the unemployed, the refugees or those without a country”.

The Pope’s greeting was followed by the Liturgy of the Word, with six prayer intentions of the faithful, introduced by Cardinal Hollerich in German, French, Hungarian and Portuguese, in which participants also prayed for peace in the world. At the end of the celebration Pope Francis greeted each of the bishops accompanying the altar servers and then toured Saint Peter’s Square to greet the young pilgrims.