Pope Francis has put the finishing touch to his trip to Lisbon this Sunday with a huge mass in the open air for some 1.5 million people. The attendees did not hesitate to camp overnight -in sleeping bags along the esplanade on the banks of the Tagus, in the Tagus Park, just after the Vasco de Gama bridge- to be able to hear the words of the Pontiff at the grand finale. of the World Youth Day (WYD). The head of the Church told the young people that “they are the hope for a different world”. In addition, he announced that the next WYD will take place in Seoul, in 2027. He also had words, once again, for peace in Ukraine.
“With the Angelus we place the future of humanity in the hands of Mary, Queen of Peace,” the Pope said. “You are the hope of a different world,” Francis told them at the end of the last mass of World Youth Day. It was a sunny and windy day, there was a party at the vigil on Saturday night, but now the young people are listening attentively to the Pope who, as in Fatima, once again prays for the world in danger: “In particular, we accompany with our thoughts and prayer to those who have not been able to come because of conflicts and wars. There are many in the world. Thinking of this continent, sI feel great pain for dear Ukraine, which continues to suffer greatlyhe continued.
And then he looked up at the young people who fill the park along the mouth of the river as far as the eye can see: “Friends, allow me, old man, to share with you, young people, a dream that I carry inside: it is the dream of the peace, the dream of young people who pray for peace, live in peace and build a future of peace”. Francis entrusts the future of humanity to Mary and concludes: “On the way home, keep praying for peace. You are a sign of peace to the world, a testimony to how nationalities, languages and histories can unite instead to divide”.
After the Angelus, the Pope announced that the next World Youth Day will be in 2027 in Seoul (South Korea), again in Asia after WYD in the Philippines in 1995: “Thus, from the western border of Europe we will go to the Far East. It is a beautiful sign of the universality of the Church and of the dream of unity of which you are all witnesses”.
In the meantime, “I hope to see you in Rome in 2025 to celebrate the Youth Jubilee together!” he exclaimed. For Francis, who returns to Rome this Sunday evening, it has been an important journey. “Young people are the future”, he repeated during the five days he spent in Lisbon. During the Mass, in his homily, he invited young people “not to be afraid” and to fight to change the world: “To you, young people, who cultivate big dreams but are often clouded by the fear of not seeing them come true; to you , young people, who sometimes think that you cannot achieve it, that you are not capable, with a little pessimism; to you, young people, tempted at this time to become discouraged, to judge yourselves inadequate or to hide your pain by masking it with a smile; to you, young people, who want to change the world, and it is good that you want to change the world, and you fight for justice and peace; to you, young people, who put effort and imagination but it seems to you that they are not enough; to you, young people, who The Church and the world need like the land of rain; you, young people, who are the present and the future; yes, to you, young people, Jesus tells you: do not be afraid! “.