Youth

The Youth Office of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life—once known as the Youth Section of the Pontifical Council for the Laity—was established in 1986 by John Paul II to give visibility and concreteness to the importance that the Pope and the whole Church attribute to the world of the young.

Within the universal Church, the Youth Office publicizes the Holy Father’s initiatives; it is at the service of the Episcopal Conferences in the field of youth ministry; it addresses youth movements, associations, and international communities, promoting collaboration and meetings between the various ecclesial realities; and it organizes conferences on youth ministry at international and continental levels.

The central element of its activity is the preparation of the international World Youth Days (WYD) that, every two or three years in different countries, gather hundreds of thousands of young people from around the world around the Pope. The WYD, established by John Paul II in 1985, also plans annual celebrations in local churches.

On behalf of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life, the Youth Office finally supports the activities of the San Lorenzo International Youth Center, which is entrusted with the mission of welcoming and evangelizing young people who go to Rome to study or on pilgrimage.

 

 

News

Prayer for the Young
Prayer meetings continue in preparation for the Synod on young people

On Pope Francis's request for “great harmony between the journey towards the Panama WYD and the synodal path,” the Shalom Community, with the patronage of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life ...

On the Way to Panama
The gesture on a tablet, at the end of the Angelus: Francis is the first pilgrim of the world meeting of the young in Panama

Pope Francis has opened the registration for the Panama World Youth Day. Yesterday, after the Angelus in St. Peter's Square, he was the first pilgrim to register for next January’s event. The choice ...

Dicastery
In the Osservatore Romano, an interview with the Secretary, Father Alexandre Awi Mello: “Rarely in the history of the Church have young people been so much at the center of worries, reflections, and ecclesial action”

The next edition of the WYD will be “under the sign of Mary. We must continue learning from her to be a Church that is a Mother who trusts in the potentialities of her children, accompanies them, ...