Pope Francis presided over the final mass of World Youth Day (WYD) on Sunday, August 6, the culmination of a week of festive, cultural and spiritual events in Lisbon. He announced that the next WYD, scheduled for 2027, will be held in Seoul, South Korea.
“The next World Youth Days will take place in Asia. They will be in South Korea, in Seoul,” said Argentinian Jorge Bergoglio, who during a visit to the Korean capital in 2014 celebrated a special mass for the reunification of the Asian peninsula. About 11 percent of South Korea’s population of 52 million is Catholic, a figure that has been rising in recent years.
During a vigil on Saturday evening, the world’s largest Catholic event gathered a strong human tide of 1.5 million believers in a park in the Portuguese capital. The number of people present on the huge esplanade set up for the occasion at the edge of the mouth of the Tagus was communicated by the Vatican, citing an estimate by the Portuguese authorities.
The pope appeared in a “Papamobile” shortly after 7 p.m. to preside over this gigantic festival-like prayer vigil, which began with songs with a pop rock tone, sung by hundreds of choristers and musicians on the colossal altar. which dominates the site of this former landfill. It is at the foot of this altar, in the middle of tents, flags of many countries and temporary sanitary facilities, that the young pilgrims started dancing in a festive atmosphere, framed by a heavy security device.
Arriving throughout the afternoon under a blazing sun, bags on their backs and provided with their sleeping bags, many pilgrims were preparing to spend the night there, while the day of Sunday is likely to be marked by temperatures of up to 40°C.
Pope calls on young people to ‘walk’ and ‘get up’
Saturday evening, evoking in turn football, exams or moments of fatigue, the pope called on young people to “walk” and “get up” in case of failure, engaging in a dialogue with the huge crowd. Since the beginning of his visit, the longest of a pope in this Iberian country, he has already addressed many topics, such as ecology, social networks, the war in Ukraine, or pedocrime within the Church. .
“Meeting around the pope and praying together are very strong moments that give hope, which strengthen us in our personal faith,” a 26-year-old French woman told Agence France-Presse. “What strikes me is really becoming aware of the universality of the Church. All countries are represented, we hear all the languages ??spoken and we see the same joy on their faces,” added, cap on her head, the young woman who came with a religious community from Mont-de-Marsan, in the south of France. West of France.
“We came on foot from Barcelona, ??we left forty days ago… It’s a pilgrimage to see the pope,” said a 19-year-old Spanish student, having walked the 1,300 kilometers between of Lisbon.
On Saturday morning, 200,000 faithful had already gathered at the Fatima shrine in central Portugal, where Jorge Bergoglio made a two-hour whirlwind visit, to recite the rosary with young sick and disabled people. On Thursday and Friday, up to 800,000 faithful flooded the streets of central Lisbon before massing in a park overlooking the city center to offer him a rock star welcome, still according to estimates from local authorities communicated by the Vatican. .
After Sunday Mass, the pope plans to meet the thousands of volunteers who helped organize the event, before leaving the country around 5 p.m.
