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Arab News
17 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Tens of thousands of Catholics head to Vatican's Jubilee of Youth
VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV made a surprise appearance in a crowd of 120,000 young Catholics who gathered on Tuesday in Rome for the Vatican's Jubilee of Youth — an event that takes place every 25 years. The week-long event is taking place just over two months after Leo XIV became the head of the Catholic Church and the first American pope. Since Monday, groups of pilgrims — chanting and draped in flags of their countries — have flooded the streets of Italy's capital and the corners of the Vatican City. The Vatican had last week said it expected some half a million people from more than 150 countries to take part, with this year's events dedicated to faith and culture. Some 120,000 people attended the opening mass at St. Peter's Basilica Tuesday evening, according to the Vatican, where the Pope said he had a special welcome for people from regions affected by war, naming Ukraine and Palestine. Afterwards, he made a surprise appearance in the crowd aboard his 'Popemobile.' The week will culminate with a giant mass led by Pope Leo on Sunday. The Jubilee of Youth is aimed at people aged between 18 and 35. Pilgrims told AFP the subjects they most wanted to discuss at the events were wars, climate change, social inequalities and the dangers linked to AI. 'The most important topic for me is war. Everyone is talking about it, thinking about it, and we want to know what the pope thinks about it and what he expects from us,' said 25-year-old Tiago Santos from Portugal. The event is taking place after almost two years of Israeli bombardment of Gaza, which has left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead and UN groups warning of starvation in the blockaded territory. Thousands have also been killed in Ukraine since Russia's 2022 invasion, with Moscow continuing deadly attacks despite Western pressure to end its campaign. Teophanie Nasta, a 26-year-old from Lebanon traveling overseas for the first time, said that despite the conflicts in the Middle East she was filled with 'faith in humanity by seeing so many young people' gathered for the church. In an unprecedented move, the Vatican dedicated a series of events to Catholic influencers — a sign of growing importance of social media for the church. Speaking to them on Tuesday morning, Pope Leo warned against the dangers of undermining 'human dignity' in the AI era.
The Independent
23-07-2025
- The Independent
Rome gears up for Holy Year's monumental Catholic youth rally in scorching temperatures
Half a million young people are expected to pour into Rome next week for the biggest event of the 2025 Holy Year: a weeklong Jubilee celebration for young Catholics that will sorely test their tolerance for heat and the Eternal City's ability to provide public services, security and logistical support during its peak tourist season. Officials said Wednesday the highlight of the celebration is the Aug. 2-3 vigil service, outdoor overnight slumber party and Mass presided over by Pope Leo XIV, the first mass gathering for history's first American pope. It's being held on the same dusty field on the outskirts of Rome where St. John Paul II led the 2000 World Youth Day, an even larger gathering of some 2 million young Catholics in that millennial Jubilee year. With temperatures next weekend expected between 32C to 34C (90F to 93F), organizers have lined up five million bottles of water, 2,660 drinking water stations and 70 giant water cannons that are normally used for dust control during building demolitions to spritz the young pilgrims to try to keep them cool. After attending a week of events in Rome's center, they will begin arriving at the Tor Vergata field on Saturday afternoon and spend the night there before the morning Mass Sunday, with access in and out requiring a 5 kilometer hike at minimum from the nearest public transport hub. A massive security and logistical setup Italian and Vatican organizers on Wednesday outlined plans for the gathering, which Rome authorities said represented the biggest technological setup ever in Italy. Four thousand police and firefighters have been called up to provide security, with Spanish, French and Polish law enforcement agencies sending teams to help out, given the large number of pilgrims expected from those countries. Officials are closing the airspace over the Tor Vergata field to civilian aircraft and drones, and 122 surveillance cameras have been set up to keep watch on the proceedings. 'This is an event that because of its importance requires exceptional security measures,' Rome Prefect Lamberto Giannini told a Vatican press conference. 'We don't have any signs of negative attention to the event, but the international situation, the various tensions and the magnitude, significance and beauty of the event require us to be very careful.' Some 68% of the young people who registered to attend hail from European countries, though pilgrims from 146 countries are expected, said the Vatican's Jubilee chief, Archbishop Rino Fisichella. A Jubilee that resembles a World Youth Day The youth Jubilee comes at the halfway point in the Vatican's 2025 Holy Year, a once-every-quarter-century celebration of Catholicism that brings millions of pilgrims to Rome. Fisichella said 17 million pilgrims had attended Jubilee events so far in 2025, representing more than half the 32 million expected. The event has assumed many characteristics of a World Youth Day, the Catholic youth rally taking place every three years that was launched by John Paul and maintained by every pope since. Heat waves and the invariable health issues that accompany them have become an integral part of youth days, since they are always scheduled during summer when young people are typically on vacation. But such Catholic Woodstocks have also produced some of the most memorable papal moments. Many faithful still remember John Paul telling the youngsters at Tor Vergata in 2000 that they were 'sentinels of the morning' at the dawn of the third millennium, Pope Benedict XVI braving a violent storm in Madrid in 2011 to continue praying, and Pope Francis telling young people in Lisbon in 2023 that everyone -- 'todos, todos, todos' – is welcome in the Catholic Church. Volunteers, portable toilets and ambulances at the ready The yearlong Jubilee, which was preceded by two years of intense construction projects around Rome, has added even more strain on Rome's public services beyond the normal tourist high season. To spare the congested city center, some 20,000 people will be housed on the grounds of Rome's old convention center on the city's outskirts, while another 40,000 will be housed in some of the 429-plus schools and 360 parishes around Rome that have offered to take them in. In addition to law enforcement, 3,000 civil protection volunteers, 500 Vatican volunteers and 4,300 Jubilee 'stewards' will be on hand to shepherd the young people around. A medevac helicopter, 43 ambulances, and 10 mobile health positions will be at the Tor Vergata field in case pilgrims fall ill. Rome's notoriously insufficient public transport system is being reinforced to provide nearly around-the-clock service and sanitation workers are clocking overtime to the tune of 4,600 shifts. There will be 2,760 portable toilets, plus 158 for disabled people, spread over the event space of 52 hectares (128 acres), officials said. 'This collective effort is a big institutional test,' acknowledged the vice president of the Lazio region, Roberta Angelilli. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Washington Post
23-07-2025
- Washington Post
Rome gears up for Holy Year's monumental Catholic youth rally in scorching temperatures
ROME — Half a million young people are expected to pour into Rome next week for the biggest event of the 2025 Holy Year : a weeklong Jubilee celebration for young Catholics that will sorely test their tolerance for heat and the Eternal City's ability to provide public services, security and logistical support during its peak tourist season.
Washington Post
01-06-2025
- General
- Washington Post
Being a devout Catholic at a secular college can be challenging. Some call it a blessing.
PRINCETON, N.J. — While other students might be in class or socializing at lunch, a group of young Catholics attends Mass every weekday at noon at the Princeton University Chapel. They sing Gregorian chants in Latin, pray and receive Communion at a side chapel — inside the huge, nondenominational Princeton Chapel — that young, devoted Catholics see as a sacred refuge in a mostly liberal and secular Ivy League environment.
Fox News
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Pope Leo delivers first 'Regina Caeli' prayers from St. Peter's balcony
Pope Leo XIV held his first "Regina Caeli" prayer at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican on Sunday. The newly elected holy father delivered the message just hours after visiting the tomb of his predecessor, Pope Francis. "I wanted so much to come here in these first days of the new Ministry that the Church has given me, to carry forward this mission as Successor of Peter," the pope said. He also delivered a message to young Catholics regarding vocations, saying, "Do not be afraid! Welcome the Church's invitation and that of Christ the Lord!" "May the Virgin Mary, whose entire life was a response to the Lord's call, always accompany us in following Jesus," he said. Pope Leo also appealed for "no more war" during his address to those gathered in St. Peter's Square. He also called for an "authentic and lasting" peace in Ukraine as well as a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages being held by Hamas. The pope went on to say he was grateful for the ceasefire declared between India and Pakistan, adding that he is praying for God to grant the world the "miracle of peace." "No more war!" the pope said, repeating a frequent call of the late Pope Francis and noting the recent 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, which killed some 60 million people. In his first official remarks as pope on Saturday, Leo delivered a powerful message to the College of Cardinals, warning that artificial intelligence (AI) presents serious new risks to human dignity. He called on the Catholic Church to step up and respond to these challenges with moral clarity and bold action. A former missionary and head of the Dicastery for Bishops, Pope Leo, born Robert Francis Prevost, speaks English, Spanish and Italian and was widely seen as a unifying choice after the death of Pope Francis. His decision to take the name "Leo" connects his mission with Pope Leo XIII's focus on social justice.
