The Pope and Young People Together

When John XXIII was elected Pope in 1958, many expected his pontificate to be merely transitional. The good-humored Pontiff was a wise and enterprising pastor, but at the age of 76, few believed that he could accomplish anything more than maintaining the status quo.

So it was that in 1959, he stunned the whole world by announcing his intent to convene Vatican II. His goal: to bring the Church up to date with the times. “We are not to be museum keepers,” he explained, “but to be cultivators of a flourishing garden of life.”

John XXIII died in the wake of the Council’s first session, but his successor Paul VI carried on his vision of a rejuvenated Church. At the Council’s close in 1965, it had promulgated reforms that were to have an immense impact on the Church, not least by its affirmation of the youth as “the hope of the Church.”

Twenty years after Vatican II, Pope John Paul II told the youth that they should hearken to the Council’s words, which pointed to the Church as bearer of “the charm of youth…the ability to rejoice with what is beginning, to give oneself unreservedly, to renew oneself and to set out again for new conquests.” A year later, he announced his desire to convene the world’s youth in a celebration of faith.

Thus was born the World Youth Day (WYD), celebrated on an international scale every two or three years, with the most recent ones—2005 Cologne and 2008 Sydney—attended by delegates from Kapuluan.

The international WYDs attract hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to gather with the Pope in a celebration of their faith. Catechism, confession and prayer are mixed with concerts, tours and opportunities for interaction. These alone make for a festive atmosphere, but by far the most anticipated events are those that see the Pope mingling with the young of his flock.

All other WYDs before 2005 were presided over by the charismatic John Paul II. Pope Benedict XVI surprised the world in his first WYD in Cologne because of his distinct charm and wisdom that captivated young people all over the world, gathering an estimated 1.2 million people in the Final Mass.

During the 2008 WYD, the Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell thanked Benedict XVI for deciding to keep the brainchild of his great predecessor alive. “This decision,” the Cardinal said, “(indicates) that the World Youth Days do not belong to one pope, or even to one generation, but are now an ordinary part of the life of the Church.”