Francis encourages WYD organizers

Apr 01, 2016

VATICAN: Pope Francis gave encouragement to the organizers of this year’s World Youth Day (WYD) gathering on Sunday, March 20, saying in his weekly Angelus address in St Peter’s Square, that he sent his greetings to all those preparing for the event.

In remarks following the annual Palm Sunday Mass at the Vatican, the pontiff mentioned how he will be travelling to Poland in July for the event and said he wanted to extend greetings “to all the youth of the world.”

“I hope that many of you can come to Krakow, homeland of St John Paul II, creator of World Youth Day,” Francis told young people. “To his intercession we entrust the last months of preparation for this pilgrimage that, in the background of the Holy Year of Mercy, will be the Jubilee for youth at the level of the universal Church.”

Francis will visit Poland July 27-31. He will celebrate World Youth Day in the capital and will also travel to Czestochowa to visit the monastery of Jasna Gora, which houses the icon of the Black Madonna, and will see the World War Two German concentration camp of Auschwitz.

John Paul first started World Youth Day in 1985. It is held each year at the diocesan level, and every two or three years internationally at different locations. The last gathering was held in 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which Francis also attended.

In a moving homily for Palm Sunday earlier in the morning, the pontiff lamented treatment of refugees globally, saying that many are not taking responsibility for their fate and compared it to the injustice Jesus suffered in his crucifixion. -- La Stampa