500,000 Catholic youth flow to Rome for the holy year, waiting for Pope Liu fourteenth – my country

Hundreds of thousands of Catholic youth were poured into a vast field on the outskirts The first big meeting With the next generation of Catholics.

Liu will definitely love what he sees: During the past week, teams of Catholic youth from all over the world invaded the area surrounding St. Peter’s area to celebrate their jubilee, in this holy year that 32 million people are expected to go down to Rome to participate in Hajj for centuries to the Catholic seat.

Young people were wandering in the streets paved with gravel in color -coordinated shirts, and prayed pink hymns and singing with the guitars, bongo drums and sparkling trades. Using their flags as a rod to protect them from the sun, they acquired a full square for Christian rock concerts and inspiring conversations, and they stood for hours in the Circus Maximus to admit their sins to 1000 province who provide the secret in ten different languages.

On Saturday, they started reaching the Tor Vergata field on the eastern side of Rome to crown them to celebrate the jubilee – the meeting with Leo. After walking five kilometers (three miles) from the nearest subway station, they passed through security tests, and they ate their bottled meals and the creation of a camp, backpacks and sleep bags in ready -made umbrellas cultivated to give them shade.

Leo, who was elected in May K. The first American PopeHe was flying on a helicopter on Saturday evening to chair the protest and a question and answers session. He was then returning to the Vatican at night and returning to the bobille and the Mass on Sunday morning.

Youth Day in the mini world, after 25 years

All this is characterized by the atmosphere of the World Youth Day, which is the Woodstock Catholic Festival, which opened St. John Paul II and watched in 2000 in Rome in the same Tor Vergata field. Then, before estimated about 2 million people, John Paul told the young pilgrims that they were “morning guards” at the dawn of the third millennium.

The officials initially expected 500,000 young men this week, but Liu hinted that the number could reach one million.

“I have spoiled a bit, but this is what is nice in the jubilee,” said Chloe Jobor, a 19 -year -old Catholic Catholic who was in Rome with a group of more than 200 young Beatitudes, a France -based charismatic group.

She said, for example, it took two hours for dinner on Friday night, as Kentucky Fried Chicken was sunken on orders. The Salesian School, which was shown on the housing group, is an hour away on the bus. But Jobbour, like many here this week, did not mind discomfort: all of this is part of the experiment.

“I don’t expect it to be better. I expected it this way,” she said, as her group members gathered the church steps near the Vatican to sing and pray before heading to Tor Vergata.

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There was already one tragedy before the protest began: The Vatican confirmed that a 18 -year -old Egyptian, known as Pascal Ravivi, had died during the Hajj. On Saturday, Leo met the group she was traveling with and expanding his condolences to her family.

The weather cooperated to a large extent: While Italian civil protection kits have been prepared for temperatures that could reach 34C (93f) or above this week, mercury did not exceed 30c (85f) and not expected.

It has disturbed the Romans, but they are tolerant

These Romans, who did not escape the attack, were inconvenient from additional legions on the incomplete public transport system in the city. Residents participate in social media leaflets from the explosions that the Romans angered by children overwhelming subway platforms and providing bus stations that have complex their transition to work.

But the other Romans welcomed the enthusiasm that the youth brought. Prime Minister Georgia Meloni welcomed a video clip, and was surprised by the “Festival of Faith, Joy and Hope and the extraordinary hope” that young people brought to the eternal city.

“I think it’s great,” said Reina Fion, who lives near the Tor Fergata field, and woke up on Saturday to find a group of police gathering outside her home as part of a huge operation, which was installed to maintain peace. “You think faith, religion is difficult, but this is evidence that it is not.”

Verdon had already put plans to take an alternative road to the house on Saturday afternoon, which required an additional (half mile), because she was afraid of “invading” the children in her neighborhood that disrupts the usual bus road. But she said she was more than happy to make the sacrifice.

“You are thinking about invading as a negative thing. But this is a positive invasion,” she said.

And copied 2025 Canadian press