World Youth Day (WYD) is an international encounter with the Pope which is typically celebrated every two to three years in a different country. The most recent WYD was celebrated in Krakow (Poland) in August 2016. At the final Mass of WYD 2016, Pope Francis announced that the next World Youth Day will be held in Panama in January 2019.
Whilst World Youth Day is celebrated annually on Palm Sunday in the Auckland Diocese we have traditionally celebrated World Youth Day each July (normally in the middle weekend of the school holidays). Watch our newsletters and Facebook page as there may be changes from 2019 onwards. Instead the Eucharistic Convention will be held the middle weekend of the July school holidays.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is at the heart of the themes for the upcoming WYDs, which are taken from the Gospel of Saint Luke:
32nd World Youth Day, 2017: “The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is His Name” (Lk 1:49)
33rd World Youth Day, 2018: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God” (Lk 1:30)
34th World Youth Day, 2019: “I am the servant of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38)
The themes are a continuation of the reflections begun by Pope Francis for the last three World Youth Days, which focused on the Beatitudes. At World Youth Day in Krakow, Pope Francis invited young people to have “memory of the past, courage for the present and to have/be hope for the future.” The themes “are intended to give a clear Marian tone to the spiritual journey of the next three WYDs” and at the same time “give a picture of young people on a journey between the past (2017), present (2018), and future (2019), inspired by the three theological virtues of faith, charity, and hope.”
The “path that is being proposed to young people can also be seen to be in harmony with the reflection that Pope Francis has entrusted to the next Synod of Bishops: Young People, Faith and Vocational Discernment.”
Information provided by the Panama Organising Committee at an international meeting in Rome in April 2017 can be downloaded: World Youth Day 2019 Click Here
