The Pope to Portuguese families: this will revolutionize your life!

With six months to go before the start of World Youth Day in Lisbon, spiritual and logistical preparation involves not only the growing number of young people around the world (more than 400,000, in fact, have already declared their intention to participate), but also the Portuguese families who will welcome pilgrims into their homes. For many editions of WYD, this hospitality - sometimes even in modest conditions - has been one of the most profound experiences that young people take with them at the end of World Youth Day.

This is recalled by Holy Father Francis, who addresses Portuguese families in a video message of thanksgiving and encouragement: "You receive young people from everywhere. It seems to be a small thing, because each family is only going to host one or two young people. That's what they say, the young foreigners, that the richest experiences are those they get from the families who hosted them" the Pope says.

The Pontiff emphasizes that this hospitality, although it may initially be considered a disturbance to daily life, will bear fruit for those who open their doors to young pilgrims. "Everything is going to undergo a bit of a revolution – the Pope says – These young people  [...] are going to leave the seed of another culture, they are going to leave the seed of another point of view [...] It's going to be a sowing of the universe, of looking beyond the horizon. Beyond our small limits, our small borders, whether geographical, cultural or spiritual."

The next World Youth Day will be held in Lisbon from the 1st to the 6th of August, 2023, and will have as it’s theme the words, "Mary got up and went quickly" (Lk. 1:39). It will be preceded by Days in the Dioceses, also called this time "Days of Encounter," which will take place from July 26-31, 2023 in the dioceses and archdioceses of Portugal.