by EuroNews
It’s published
•update
Pope Leo XIV on Sunday urged more than a million young Catholics gathered in Rome Youth Jubilee When they return to their homelands of over 150, to “spread witnesses of your enthusiasm and your faith.”
The closure of Jubilee Mass in Toh Vergata, located in the southern suburbs of Rome, marked one of the most important events of the Holy Year, originally launched by the late Pope Francis.
Sunday’s event was Pope Leo XIV’s first important encounter with the next generation of Catholics.
“Good morning, have a good Sunday. I hope you have a little rest. Now we are beginning to celebrate Mass, this is the greatest gift that Christ has left us.”
Saturdayhe spent the evening vigil, where he crossed Toh Vergata in Popemovie and greeted thousands of faithful people who had planned to spend the night on the grass before Sunday Mass.
On Sunday, descending from his helicopter, the clergy were greeted by faithful people from around the world with crying, prayers and flags.
“Vulnerability is part of the wonder we are.”
During Homily, celebrated with 20 Cardinals, 450 Bishops and 7,000 priests, the Pope invited the young to face vulnerability without becoming taboo.
“The vulnerability they tell us is part of the wonder we are. Let’s consider the symbolism of grass.
“It consists of delicate, elongated, fragile stems that dry, bend, break, but at the same time, they quickly sprout after them, the former generously becoming nourishing and fertilizer, and nutrients and fertilizer in the soil.”
“This is how the fields live, they constantly renew themselves, and when everything appears silent, even in the cold winter months, that energy trembles beneath the ground, preparing to explode in a thousand colors in spring.”
“We too, dear friends, are made for this. Everything is not for granted and still, but for a present that is constantly regenerated in love,” the Pope said.
“If you’re not calm, you’re alive.”
The Pope invited the faithful people who gathered before him to accumulate feelings of peace.
“The bloating of our being, as we heard in the gospel, does not depend on what we accumulate in what we have,” he said.
Pope Leo XIV also cited his predecessor, the late Pope Francis.
“Each of us is called to confront great questions that do not have simple or immediate answers, but we invite us to go beyond ourselves and take off to a takeoff where there is no flight without it.”
“Don’t worry, then if we discover that we are inwardly thirsty, restless, incomplete, longing for meaning and the future. We are not sick, we are alive,” he said.
Message to young people suffering from war
During Angelus at the end of the Mass, the Pope thanked a crowd of young people from all over the world to participate in the Jubilee.
“It was a cascade of grace for the Church and for the whole world. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to each and every one of them.”
“We are with youths of Gaza, with all the lands covered in blood by the youths of Ukrainians and war,” he added.
“You’re a sign that another world is possible. A world of friendship where conflict is resolved by dialogue rather than by weapons.”
The celebration ended with the official announcement for the next World Youth Day.
“The pilgrimage of hope continues and takes us to Asia. Young people from all over the world will gather with Peter’s successors to celebrate World Youth Day in Seoul, South Korea from August 3rd to 8th, 2027,” the Pope said.