Pope Francis registered as a pilgrim for World Youth Day 2019 after praying the Angelus on February 11, 2018, in St. Peter’s Square. Today, July 9, 2018, the Vatican made the official announcement that the Holy Father will be in Panama from January 23-27, 2019.
The announcement was made by Vatican Press Secretary Greg Burke. World Youth Day 2019 will run from January 22-27, 2019, in Panama.
According to the official World Youth Day website, this WYD is expected to be much smaller than previous WYDs. The Central American nation is expecting to host about 500,000 pilgrims, significantly fewer than the 2.4 million and 3.7 million pilgrims estimated to have attended WYD Krakow 2016 and Rio 2013, respectively.
