In the months leading up to each WYD, the symbols go on pilgrimage to proclaim the Gospel and accompany the young people in their lives.
Newsdesk (02/07/2021 14:45, Gaudium Press) The Local Organizing Committee for World Youth Day (WYD) 2023 has released the schedule for the pilgrimage of the WYD symbols. According to the schedule, the Pilgrim Cross and the Marian Icon ‘Salus Populi Romani’ will travel through Angola, Spain and Poland.
Between July 8 and August 15, 2021, the WYD symbols will be in Angola. Spain and Poland will also be visited by the WYD symbols, however, the date is yet to be announced. It has already been confirmed that between August 4 and 7, 2022, the Marian Cross and Icon will be present at the European Pilgrimage of Youth in Santiago de Compostela.
Pilgrimage through 21 Portuguese Dioceses
Between November 2021 and July 2023, 21 Portuguese Dioceses will receive the Pilgrim Cross and the Marian Icon ‘Salus Populi Romani’, which will remain for a month in each diocese.
The itinerary of Portuguese dioceses is as follows: Algarve, Beja, Évora, Portalegre- Castelo Branco, Guarda, Viseu, Funchal in Madeira, Angra do Heroísmo in the Azores, Lamego, Bragança-Miranda, Vila Real, Porto, Setúbal, Armed and Security Forces, Viana do Castelo, Braga, Aveiro, Coimbra, Leiria-Fátima, Santarém and finally Lisbon in July 2023.
The symbols of WYD
This tradition was initiated by Pope Saint John Paul II who, in 1984, gave the Cross of the Jubilee Year of Redemption to young people, asking them to carry it throughout the world “as a sign of the love of the Lord Jesus for humanity and to announce to all that only in Christ who died and rose again there is salvation and redemption”.
The Icon of Our Lady is a replica of the ‘Salus Populi Romani’, which was also given by Saint John Paul II in 2003. The original picture is on display in the Basilica of St Mary Major, and according to tradition, it was painted by St Luke.
World Youth Day
Created in 1985 by Saint John Paul II, World Youth Day is a meeting of thousands of young Catholics from different dioceses around the world. It takes place every two to three years, and each time the Pope chooses a new country to host the event.
The first edition took place in 1986, in Rome. Other editions of WYD have taken place in the following cities: Buenos Aires (1987), Santiago de Compostela (1989), Czestochowa (1991), Denver (1993), Manila (1995), Paris (1997), Rome (2000), Toronto (2002), Cologne (2005), Sydney (2008), Madrid (2011), Rio de Janeiro (2013), Krakow (2016) and Panama (2019).
WYD Lisbon 2023
The next World Youth Day is scheduled to take place in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2023. The theme chosen by Pope Francis for this edition of the youth gathering is “Mary arose and set out without delay”. (EPC)
