This January, youth and young adults from all over the world will be gathering in Panama City, Panama for a weeklong celebration called World Youth Day. The celebration is held in a different city around the world every two to three years.
St. Pope John Paul II established World Youth Day in 1985 as an opportunity to celebrate and strengthen the faith of Catholic youth and young adults. The most recent World Youth Day was held in Kraków, Poland in 2016, and 3 million people from around the world attended. The 1995 World Youth Day in Manila, Philippines, was inscribed in the Guinness World Records as the largest gathering in history, with about 5 million people.
Each host city does things a little bit differently, reflecting its own culture and geography. In the days leading up to the official World Youth Day celebrations in Krakow, pilgrims from the Archdiocese of Washington visited Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi concentration camp where more than a million people were killed during the Holocaust. They also visited religious sites in Poland, such as the birthplace of St. John Paul II and the Shrine of Divine Mercy.
This year, the celebration in Panama City will include a youth festival where young people from around the world can share their artistic and religious talents through music, theatre, dance, and other exhibits. There will also be a “forgiveness park” in Panama City, where pilgrims can go throughout the week to receive God’s forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
The main events for World Youth Day will take place this year from Jan. 22-27, but in the days leading up to the gathering, the dioceses surrounding the hosting city hold “Days in the Dioceses,” where pilgrims have the option of staying with local families and participating in activities with their parishes. Jan. 22 is the opening Mass, and on Jan. 23-25, the participants attended catechesis sessions that are organized by language.
On Jan. 25, the pilgrims will all participate in the Stations of the Cross with Pope Francis, then on Jan. 26, they will make a pilgrimage to the site of the next day’s closing Mass. That night, they participate in a prayer service and overnight vigil. Often, the people from different groups will wave flags from their home country, trade tokens of their country with other pilgrims, and sing songs as they await the Mass the next morning. After the pope celebrates the closing Mass, the site of the next World Youth Day will be announced and the celebration will conclude.
This year’s theme is “I am the servant of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word,” which Mary said to the angel Gabriel after he told her that she would be giving birth to Jesus. With this theme, Pope Francis hopes that young people will reflect upon what God is calling them to do and say “Yes” to Him, just like Mary did.
Pilgrims who cannot travel to Panama City for this year's World Youth Day are invited to take part in Panama in the Capital on Jan. 26, a one-day festival for college students and young adults celebrating World Youth Day in Washington, D.C. The event at The Catholic University of America will include speakers, Panamanian food and music, and simultaneous streaming of Pope Francis in Panama.
