First announced on December 20, 1985, by then-Pope John Paul II, the first official World Youth Day (WYD) was held in 1986, in Rome. Two successive popes have continued the tradition begun by Saint John Paul II and now, 30 years later, Pope Francis just wrapped up another international WYD, in Krakow, Poland (July 25-31). The next WYD will be in Panama City, Panama, in 2019.
“You filled Krakow with the contagious enthusiasm of your faith,” Pope Francis said to the estimated peak of 2 million attendees, mostly aged 16-35. “Saint John Paul II has rejoiced from heaven, and he will help you spread the joy of the Gospel everywhere.”
The Holy Father’s theme for Krakaw’s WYD 2016 was “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” (Mt 5:7)
At one point, pointing to an image of the Virgin Mary behind the altar which had been venerated by St. John Paul II at the Shrine of Kalwaria, Pope Francis commended the world’s young adults to Christ’s Mother. Mary, he said, can show WYD participants how to make their experience “productive.”
“She tells us to do what she did: not to squander the gift you have received, but to treasure it in your heart so it can grow and bear fruit, with the help of the Holy Spirit.”
By doing this, each person, with all their faults and limitations, “can be a witness to Christ wherever you live: at home, in your parishes, in your associations and groups, and your places of study, work, service, entertainment…wherever God’s providence will lead you.”
World Youth Day is like a booster shot of faith, summed up Cardinal Dolan.
Aquilino, 40, from Panama City, led a group of youth from his hometown to the Krakow WYD. He told a Catholic News Agency reporter that for him, the biggest takeaway from the event has been “faith and love,” which he said are badly needed both by his home country of Panama and by the whole world.
Events like WYD, he said, “show to the word the unity of the church, and the strength of the youth of the world…It’s very important that people around the world can see what has happened here.”
“Dear young people,” Pope Francis entreated during the Krakow WYD, “we didn’t come into this work to “vegetate,” to take it easy, to make our lives a comfortable sofa to fall asleep on. No, we came for another reason: to leave a mark. We must not confuse happiness with comfort. Jesus was the ultimate risk-taker and never settled for security. Following Jesus demands a good dose of courage, a readiness to trade in the sofa for a pair of walking shoes and to set out on new and uncharted paths.”
He continued, saying that we must follow “the path of the ‘craziness’ of our God, who teaches us to encounter him in the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, the friend in trouble, the prisoner, the refugee and the migrant, and our neighbors who feel abandoned.” Wherever our lives take us, we must actively share the faith with those around us.
This news story crafted with information culled from the two sites below, the Catholic News Agency and other sources.
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