The Pope registers for the WYD live on TV

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 of 11 February, the day on which the memory of Our Lady of Lourdes is celebrated, is not accidental. Francis has given the entire path of preparation for World Youth Day and its theme a Marian character: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). It is now possible to register on the platform, accessible from the section of our website dedicated to the event.

In the perspective of the harmonization desired by Francis between the way to the WYD in Panama and the synodal path, the Dicastery is following the activities of the WYD organizing committee (see the attached photo gallery) and collaborating closely with the General Secretariat of the Synod in the preparation for October’s Assembly. With regard to this, the General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, Card. Lorenzo Baldisseri, recently stated in an interview that, in Spring, a pre-Synod assembly will bring together “young people from every continent, from the episcopal conferences, as well as from Catholic associations and movements, but also chosen outside of the usual ecclesial environments, so that all the wishes and the voices may be adequately considered during the Synod of Bishops that will follow in automn. The world of work, sports, art ... each will have its own representatives: Pope Francis insisted that we must have great concern for those who are ‘far away,’ for the young people on the ‘peripheries,’ those who are not part of the network of us Catholic practitioners. The participants—he added—will be able to ask questions, make suggestions, and act as intermediaries between the ecclesial institution that derives from the people of God and secular society.”