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The Local Organizing Committee says the priority is “to concentrate efforts and resources” on supporting populations affected by the pandemic
ECCLESIA / PR Agency
Vatican City, April 20, 2020 (Ecclesia) – The Vatican announced today that World Youth Day (WYD) in Lisbon has been postponed until August 2023, due to the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The director of the press room of the Holy See, Matteo Bruni, justifies the decision with “the current health situation and its consequences on the displacement and agglomeration of young people and families.”
The decision was made by the Pope with the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life (Holy See), which also includes the postponement of World Family Day, which will take place in Rome, now in June 2022.
In a statement sent to Agência ECCLESIA, the Local Organizing Committee (COL) of WYD in Lisbon justifies the change with “the current circumstances of public health, the economic consequences that arise from it and, above all, the need to concentrate efforts and resources in supporting more fragile. “
The LOC emphasizes that it welcomes this decision “in a natural and safe way, sharing with the Holy Father the call that, in the current context and in the near future, the focus of attention for all will be on the care of the most vulnerable, families and all those who, for the most diverse reasons, suffer the effects of the pandemic caused by Covid-19 ”.
“The LOC and the established work teams are excited about the possibility of preparing WYD in Portugal in the best way, with the certainty that the event will bring hope and joy to young people from all over the world to the Portuguese capital”, adds the official note from Catholic officials.
| On April 5, Palm Sunday, Francisco made an appointment with the youth for November 22, the day he saw the delivery of WYD symbols to a national delegation.
“My thoughts are directed to young people around the world who are experiencing, for the first time, at the diocesan level, World Youth Day this Sunday. The Cross, from the youth of Panama to Lisbon, was scheduled for today: this suggestive gesture was postponed until Christ the King’s Sunday, November 22, “said the Pope. |
The cross and the icon of Our Lady, symbols of WYD, were given by the Pope John Paul II to young people in April 1984 and marked the beginning of a youth pilgrimage from around the world; Before the international edition of 2023, they will visit all the Portuguese dioceses and several Portuguese-speaking countries.
In an interview with the ECCLESIA Agency, Mr. Américo Aguiar said that the preparation of the World Youth Day (WYD) in Portugal is in “hibernation” because the “urgency and focus” is the fight against the Covid pandemic- 19.
“The urgency and focus is a pandemic. And we have to be aware of that, everyone. The urgency to which we are called as a people, as humanity, as a Church, as a nation, is to address the issue of the pandemic. Everything else went to second place. But we don’t need to close, we are going to go into hibernation, ”he said.
WYD is held annually at the local (diocesan) level on Palm Sunday (or on a date defined by each diocese), alternating with an international meeting every two to three years, in a large city.
The international editions of these days promoted by the Catholic Church are a religious and cultural event that brings together hundreds of thousands of young people from around the world, for approximately one week.
OC
News updated at 16:40
