On the occasion of the Solemnity of Christ, King of the Universe, on Sunday, November 22, at 10:00 am the Holy Father will preside over the Eucharistic Celebration at the Altar of the Chair of Saint Peter’s Basilica. At the end of the Mass, the consignment will take place of the WYD symbols — the Cross as well as the copy of the Icon Salus Popoli Romani — by the representation of the Panamanian young people to the Portuguese youths. In fact, the last World Youth Day was held in Panama, whereas the next, foreseen for 2023, will take place in Lisbon. In keeping with the present norms of health safety, the symbolic gesture of the consignment will take place in the presence of very restricted delegations of both countries.
All are invited to take part virtually in the Eucharistic Celebration, which will be broadcast live on the “Vatican News” official YouTube channel.
The same broadcast will be followed by those responsible for Youth Pastoral Care of the Episcopal Conferences and of International Movements, which from tomorrow and until Saturday will take part in the international online Meeting “From Panama to Lisbon — Called to Missionary Synodality,” organized by our Dicastery. Both the consignment of the WYD symbols as well as the International Meeting initially planned for April 2020, were postponed given the global health emergency still underway.
For years the Cross and the Icon Salus Popoli Romani have accompanied the preparations for the international editions of WYD: the consignment of the symbols to the young people of the diocese that hosts the Day always took place at the end of the celebration of Palm Sunday, presided over by the Holy Father in Saint Peter’s Square. This tradition goes back to 1984 when, at the conclusion of the Jubilee Year of Redemption, Pope John Paul II entrusted to young people the Jubilee’s Cross, known today as the WYD Cross, from then on at the center of every international edition of the Day. In 2003 the Holy Father also offered the youth a copy of the Icon of Mary Salus Popoli Romani placed side by side with the Cross in their pilgrimages around the world.
