Rome (Italy). From 28 July to 3 August 2025, the Youth Jubilee was celebrated in Rome, one of the most anticipated events of the Holy Year and the most attended, with the presence of around one million young people from all over the world. An event that involved all the Dioceses, Associations, and Movements that, in the footsteps of Peter and many “next-door Saints,” came walking as Pilgrims of Hope, or by other means and itineraries, to the “center of Christianity”, to live a unique experience of faith, friendship, encounter.
For educators, priests, men and women religious “less young”, it came naturally to think about the Jubilee of 2000 – the Holy Year, the eternal city, the esplanade of Tor Vergata – almost a passing of the baton between three Popes: Saint John Paul II, who had called young people at the dawn of the third millennium “Morning Sentinels”; Pope Francis, who had given them an appointment at the WYD in Lisbon in 2023, and prepared with prayer and spending himself until his last breath for their arrival in Rome; and the “new Pope” Leo XIV, who immediately made himself loved on 29 July, at the end of the Opening Mass celebrated by the pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Monsignor Rino Fisichella, arriving surprisingly in the popemobile in St. Peter’s Square among the 120 thousand jubilant young people.
“Good Evening! Jesus tells us, ‘You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world” (Mt 5:13-14). And today your voices, your enthusiasm, your cries –which are all for Jesus Christ – will be heard to the ends of the world.
Today you are starting some days of a journey, the Jubilee of Hope, and the world needs messages of hope. You are this message, and you must continue to give hope to everyone. Let’s hope you will always be signs of hope in the world! Today we are starting. In the coming days, you will have the opportunity to be a force that can bring the grace of God, a message of hope, a light to the city of Rome, to Italy, and to the whole world. Let us walk together with our faith in Jesus Christ.
And our cry must also be for world peace. Let us all say, “We want world peace!” Let us pray for peace and be witnesses of the peace of Jesus Christ, of reconciliation, of this light of the world that we are all looking for.” These are his first “spontaneous words”. (Photos: Flickr FMA)
The week continued with pilgrimages to the Holy Doors, spaces of reconciliation such as the penitential day, 1 August, with 200 confessionals at the Circus Maximus; catechesis, moments of prayer, formation, art, music, testimony, and evangelization, in a city that truly welcomed everyone.
The culmination of the experience, however, was, without a doubt, the two days in Tor Vergata on 2 and 3 August, including the walk, more or less long depending on the point and time of departure, to reach the esplanade, a spectacle of colors, flags, songs, and music that wound through the outskirts of Rome. It was an explosion of youthful enthusiasm that converged on the same destination.
Waiting for the vigil, although under the August sun with more or less artisanal shelters and water supplies distributed by the Civil Protection, became short thanks to the intense desire to make new friends by crowding the streets between the areas and the entertainment of the afternoon, with alternations on the large stage/altar and on the big screens, of Christian music bands, young artists, and testimonies from different parts of the world.
Pope Leo arrives at dusk by helicopter and then, with long rides in the popemobile, literally immerses himself among the young people, ready to immortalize his smile with smartphones, while they express joy by screaming “this is the Pope’s youth!”
Exciting is the moment in which, a few meters from the stage, a young man hands him the cross, the same cross that has been accompanying the pilgrimages of many groups to the Holy Door of St. Peter since 25 December 2024. Together with 200 young people, representing the Countries of the world, he travels with solemnity and recollection the last stretch of the road to the tune of the Jubilee hymn “Fiamma viva della mia speranza”, (Living Flame of my hope) performed by the choir and orchestra of the Diocese of Rome, with around 450 elements directed by Monsignor Marco Frisina.
At the moment of the Vigil silence falls. The young people pray in different languages, sing, kneel before the Blessed Sacrament (text of the Vigil). The words of the Holy Father are the answers to the questions presented in different languages by Dulce María from Mexico, Gaia from Italy, and Will from the United States, on friendship, on faith, on the courage of important choices, on how to meet Jesus and feel Him present in your life.
Plunging into contemporary culture, it urges them first to seek the truth and sincerity of relationships, beyond the ambiguity of digital tools, and to “commercial and interest logics that break our relationships into a thousand intermittences”; to aim, as St. Augustine, on friendship with Christ, “our North Star”, which makes all friendships deep and faithful; to live friendship in faith, like Blessed Piergiorgio Frassati, who said “to live without faith, without a heritage to defend, without supporting a struggle for the Truth is not to live, but to get by.”
“Dear young people, love each other! Love yourself well in Christ. Know how to see Jesus in others. Friendship can truly change the world. Friendship is a road to peace,” he points out in a heartfelt way.
Like Saint John Paul II 25 years ago, Pope Leo, remembering his words, “it is Jesus you seek when you dream of happiness,” invites them to let themselves be loved and attracted by the Lord. “The courage to choose comes from the love that God manifests to us in Christ,” to lay down fears and leave room for hope “because we are certain that God brings to fruition what He begins.” Make radical choices such as marriage, sacred orders, and religious consecration that “express the gift of self, free and liberating, which makes us truly happy. And there we find happiness, when we learn to give ourselves, to give our lives for others.”
He again invites them to seek justice, renewing their way of living to build a more humane world, at service; to remain united with Jesus in the Eucharist, “Study, work, love according to the style of Jesus, the good Master, who always walks alongside us.
At every step, while we seek the good, let us ask Him, stay with us, Lord (Cf. Luke 24:29)! Stay with us Lord! Stay with us, because without You we cannot do the good we desire to do. (Words of Pope Leo XIV)
Taking leave at the end of the Vigil, like a father, Leo XIV recommends the young people to rest a bit and gives the appointment for the next day. The desire to socialize, however, prevails and the streets between the sectors remain crowded and cheerful for a long time, between dancing and singing, unexpected encounters and deep sharing between friends.
The next day the helicopter flies very early over the large area, already teeming with people, to prepare to welcome the Pope and to leave with the backpacks in order once the Mass is over. At 9 o’clock the Eucharistic Celebration of the Youth Jubilee begins, concelebrated by about 7 thousand priests, 400 Bishops, and 25 Cardinals, including Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, SDB. Among the Authorities at the altar stage, there is also present the Superior General of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Mother Chiara Cazzuola, together with the Provincial of the St. John Bosco Province (IRO), Sister Gabriella Garofoli.
The sun is already hot and tiredness makes itself felt, but the desire to meet Jesus “who changes our existence, who illuminates our affections, desires, thoughts” makes us remain vigilant to follow the gestures and words on the many giant screens of Pope Leo who calls them “dear friends” and, commenting on the readings, talks to them about the concreteness of life: fragility, that “is part of the wonder that we are,” the energy that “trembles underground and prepares to explode in spring in a thousand colors,” of an existence “that is constantly regenerated in the gift, in love.”
“There is an important question in our hearts, a need for truth that we cannot ignore, that leads us to ask ourselves, what is happiness really? What is the true flavor of life? What frees us from the pools of nonsense, boredom, mediocrity?”
The Holy Father urges young people to treasure the beauty experienced in these days and to raise their gaze, “Buying, piling up, consuming is not enough. We need to raise our eyes, to look up, to the ‘things above’ to realize that everything makes sense among the realities of the world, only to the extent that it serves to unite us with God and our brothers and sisters in charity. (…) And over this horizon, we will get an ever better understanding of the meaning of ‘hope does not disappoint’. Dear young people, our hope is Jesus. (…) Aspire to great things, to holiness, wherever you are. Don’t settle for less. Then you will see the light of the Gospel grow every day in you and around you. (homily)
In the final greeting at the Angelus, he gives them the appointment for Seoul, Korea, from 3 to ’8 August 2027, for the next World Youth Day which will have as its theme, “Have courage: I have conquered the world!” (Jn 16:33), “let us continue to dream together, to hope together!”
“Bring this joy, this enthusiasm to the whole world. You are salt of the earth, light of the world. Bring this greeting to all your friends, to all young people who need a message of hope. Thank you again to all of you! Have a good trip!”
Photos: Flickr FMA
