After Pope Francis set aside a prepared speech in Lisbon Friday morning, citing problems with his eyesight amid poor lighting, concern over the pontiff’s vision has grown after he largely ignored two other prepared texts, including a highly anticipated message Saturday morning in Fatima.
Fifteen World Youth Day pilgrims from Ukraine, most of whom had lost a father or other close relative in the war, had a private meeting with Pope Francis Aug. 3.
Pope Francis kicked off the second day of his Aug. 2-6 visit to Lisbon meeting with Catholic university students, telling them to maintain a restless search for a better future and to work toward a more inclusive and just world.
When Pope Francis arrives in Portugal for World Youth Day, he’ll be met by the colorful fanfare and palpable excitement characteristic of these gatherings, yet he’ll also have the task of wading through the aftermath of a recent report on clerical abuse in the country.
As Pope Francis heads to Lisbon Aug. 2 for World Youth Day, an event often dubbed the “Catholic Woodstock” due to the large and celebratory crowds it always draws, he faces the unique challenge of revitalizing the faith amid growing European secularism and progressively empty pews in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While not everyone has the opportunity to attend World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal, next month, St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish gave more than 60 young faithful the chance to participate in the international celebration of faith.
In preparation for World Youth Day, young pilgrims representing the Diocese of Brooklyn came together for a celebratory send-off Mass Sunday, July 23 at the Immaculate Conception Center in Douglaston.
The Vatican has pulled from circulation a World Youth Day stamp of Pope Francis with young people in an image that resembles propaganda from Portugal’s former dictatorship.
World Youth Day is an antidote against indifference, isolation and lethargy, Pope Francis said.
Bishop Robert J. Brennan celebrated Mass Saturday, Dec. 4 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph to observe World Youth Day. He urged youth teenagers from across the Diocese of Brooklyn to be like St. Joseph, cast off fear, and “Don’t be afraid to give yourself to Jesus.”
