A year after World Youth Day 2019 in Panama, the impact of the pilgrimage is still being felt by local youth who attended the event. About 200 Catholics from Brooklyn and Queens went to Panama, along with 700,000 young people from around the world looking up to deepen their faith and listen to Pope Francis.
Three years ago, if you told me that I’d be going to Panama for World Youth Day 2019, I’d advise you to consult a psychologist, because in my book, you’d be considered crazy.
I wanted to come on this pilgrimage because I believe that there is a transformation to come.
World Youth Day pilgrims from Brooklyn and Queens are back in the diocese, having returned to the responsibilities of school and work, family life and social circles. As they go about their lives, one of the memories they carry with them is of a hot and humid morning during the final day of catechesis when the perfect storm occurred.
The Tablet asks students from around the Diocese of Brooklyn a question for the opinion section of the Youth page. This week: World Youth Day Pilgrims
Photos from all the exciting events over the course of World Youth Day Panama
Queens mother Aurelia Tello says she was excited when she found out that her son, Adalfo, had been given the opportunity to attend World Youth Day.
Pope Francis told an American pilgrim taking part in World Youth Day that clerical sex abuse is a “horrible crime” and that “even if it is just one person, the Church should not tolerate it.”
As Brooklyn and Queens pilgrims arrived at the final and perhaps, most important days of their World Youth Day pilgrimage, they also reached the longest leg of their journey – walking at least seven miles for the evening prayer vigil with Pope Francis.
Speaking to over half a million young people from around the world on Sunday, Pope Francis said Jesus is not “an interval in life nor a passing fad,” but a loving God who’s concrete and close.
