You Are ‘the Sign that a Different World Is Possible’

Some one million young people participated in the Jubilee of Young People in Rome from 28 July to 3 August. Representing nearly 150 countries, they were scattered throughout the city in accommodation provided by parishes, schools, families and other infrastructure, including 25,000 in the former exhibition space, Fiera Di Roma, where tents were set up for the pilgrims.

On Tuesday evening, 29 July, the young pilgrims participated in a welcoming Mass in Saint Peter’s Square, presided by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization. At the end of the Eucharistic celebration, Pope Leo delighted the young people by making a surprise visit to welcome them to their Jubilee. “You are the salt of the earth, the light of the world! And today your voices, your enthusiasm, your cries — all of them for Jesus Christ — will be heard to the ends of the earth”, Pope Leo said to them.

Throughout the Jubilee week, young people were able to participate in many cultural and spiritual events, exhibitions and workshops, organized for the occasion under the title, “Dialogues with the city”. Among the events were a visit to the relics of Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati, a visit to the room Mother Teresa used when she was in Rome, and a play organized by Jesuits on the life of Thérèse of Lisieux.

On Friday, 1 August, young pilgrims participated in a penitential day at Rome’s Circus Maximus. Some 1,000 priests were on hand to offer the Sacrament of Reconciliation in 10 different languages, including Swahili, Vietnamese, Slovak and Chinese. During the day volunteers from the Youcat Foundation distributed 10,000 copies of their special edition of a book on confession, specifically published for the Jubilee of Youth, available in Italian, English, French, and German.

On Saturday, 2 August, the young pilgrims assembled at Tor Vergata on the outskirts of Rome for a prayer vigil with the Holy Father. During the vigil, the Pope took part in a question and answer session with three of the young pilgrims. Speaking in Spanish, 23-year-old Dulce Maria, from Mexico, asked how one could find true friendship and love that would lead to true hope”. Highlighting that friendships can be truly lasting only if they are founded in God, the Pope quoted the following words from Saint Augustine: “It is the one who loves God in his friend who truly loves his friend”.

In his reply to the second question from 19-year-old Gaia from Italy on the climate of uncertainty that prevents many young people from making important life changes, the Holy Father noted that the question is not about choosing something, but rather someone. When we make a choice, he said, we decide “who we want to become”. The third question was from 20-year-old Will from the United States of America, who asked how one can “truly encounter” Jesus and be sure of his presence “even in the midst of trials and uncertainties”. Pope Leo responded by calling on young people to reflect on their way of living, and to seek justice, serve the poor and adore Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. After answering questions, the Holy Father prayed for two young pilgrims who had passed away while taking part in the Jubilee — Maria, 20, from Spain, and Pascale, 18, from Egypt.

On the final day of the Jubilee of Youth, Pope Leo celebrated Holy Mass at Tor Vergata before one million young pilgrims. During his homily he stressed that we “are not made for a life where everything is taken for granted and static, but for an existence that is constantly renewed through gift of self in love”, which is the reason “why we continually aspire to something ‘more’ that no created reality can give us”. Let us not deceive our hearts by trying to satisfy this yearning with “cheap imitations”, he added, but rather listen to God “knocking gently on the window of our soul”. It is truly beautiful, especially at a young age, the Holy Father noted, “to open wide your hearts, to allow him to enter, and to set out on this adventure with him towards eternity”.

As “you return to your countries in the coming days, in every part of the world, continue to walk joyfully in the footsteps of the Savior, and spread your enthusiasm and the witness of your faith to everyone you meet”, Pope Leo urged in his closing words.