World Youth

* Two years before the first "World Youth Day", Pope John
Paul II had witnessed massive gatherings of young people in
Rome: first the Youth Jubilee in 1984 and then for the United
Nations International Year of Youth in 1985. These events,
along with the outpouring associated with them, inspired him
to call for an annual event. The Pope wanted a balance
between the catholic (universal) character of the Church and
its local, smaller character that we find in our dioceses and
parish communities. He also wanted to emphasize for young
Catholics the experience of encountering and falling in love
with Jesus Christ.

* Pope John Paul II saw young people not as the future of the
Church, but as key parts of its present. So WYD became a way
for him to reach out to these young Catholics and show both
his confidence in them and care for them. He envisioned an
event that would help to rejuvenate the entire Church and
ensure that the gospel command to teach all nations the truth
of Christ would be met.

* On Palm Sunday of 1986, the first ever World Youth Day
was held in Rome, gathering young Catholics from around the
world. Every year since World Youth Day has been observed
at the local diocesan level on Palm Sunday. This helps to
ensure that young people retain a vital connection to their
local church and that the missionary message of WYD stays
alive. It is not just a huge event that is fun to attend; rather,
WYD must be seen as part of each young person's faith life
and vocation to be a part of the life of the church.

* To help keep young Catholics connected to our huge,
global Church, every two or three years World Youth Day is
hosted by an international city. In these years it makes
more sense to speak of World Youth Days. There is a
week-long series of activities, including prayer and
catechesis that allow the gathered young Catholic pilgrims
to meet other young Catholics from around the world and
share in other cultures, languages, and expressions of faith.
These activities have always been attended by the Pope,
as well as hundreds of thousands of young people from all
over the world.

* The week's activities build up to a closing mass presided
over the Pope. When WYD was held in Manila in the
Philippines it is estimated that the assembly at the final
mass numbered over 4 million people. The date and location
of the next international WYD is announced at this mass so
that excitement can continue as the planning and
preparation gets started for the future.

�There are people and nations, Mother, that I would like to
say to you by name. I entrust them to you in silence, I
entrust them to you in the way that you know best.�

John Paul II

"You young people have in a special way the task of
witnessing today to the faith; the commitment to bring
the Gospel of Christ into the third Christian Millennium,
to build a new civilization" � Pope John Paul II