The Dispatch: More from CWR...

World Youth Day: 96% of pilgrims think gatherings contribute to evangelization

Nicolás de Cárdenas   By Nicolás de Cárdenas for CNA

July 31, 2023 Catholic News Agency The Dispatch 1 Print

Participants at World Youth Day 2023 in in Lisbon, Portugal. / Credit: José Ferreira/JMJ Lisboa 2023

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 31, 2023 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

According to an international survey, 96% of young people over the age of 18 who are attending World Youth Day (WYD) in Lisbon, Portugal, think these gatherings contribute a lot or quite a bit “to spreading faith in Jesus Christ.”

To the same extent, the participants think that the different WYDs help  “reinforce the commitment of young people” (96%) and “make the Church’s message resound throughout the world” (95%).

Among the motivations for attending the international meeting with the pope is “encountering Jesus Christ” (94%) followed by “living new experiences” (92%). For 89% it’s a decisive factor to help “spread the message of Jesus Christ” and “to be at an event with Pope Francis.”

To a lesser extent, young people are coming to Lisbon to get to know different cultures, new people, be with like-minded people, or establish a dialogue with young people of different religions.

For the most part, WYD pilgrims consider that their Christian faith is a positive factor for maturing and being a better person, building a better world, showing solidarity, understanding others, and living a happy life.

According to the study, almost two-thirds of attendees are women (62%) and 4 out of 10 are between 18 and 25 years old, while almost a third are over 35. Eighty-two percent have higher education, 6 out of 10 have a job, and just over a third are students.

Regarding their religious practice, 83% go to Mass on Sundays, 65% pray daily, and 62% belong to a parish group.

In 36% of the cases, participants have been accompanied by a religious group or association, 29% by their parishes, and 27% are alone or with a group of friends.

For two-thirds of the attendees, it will be the first time they have participated in a WYD. Those who have gone to WYDs before consider their experiences at previous events to be very positive or positive (99%) and recognize that these experiences have had a great influence on their lives (92%).

The survey was prepared by the Spanish company GAD3 through online interviews conducted from July 12–20 with almost 12,600 young people from 100 countries.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!

Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.

About Catholic News Agency 12666 Articles
Catholic News Agency (www.catholicnewsagency.com)

Related Articles

No Picture
News Briefs

Pope Francis: No Christian is exempt from aiding the poor

June 14, 2022 Catholic News Agency 2
Pope Francis greets a participant in the World Day of the Poor in Rome, Nov. 16, 2017. / L’Osservatore Romano.

Vatican City, Jun 14, 2022 / 10:15 am (CNA).

Pope Francis said this week that no Christian is exempt from aiding the poor.

In his message for the 2022 World Day of the Poor, published on June 14, the pope said that the worst thing that can happen to a Christian community is to be “dazzled by the idol of wealth, which ends up chaining us to an ephemeral and bankrupt vision of life.”

“Where the poor are concerned, it is not talk that matters; what matters is rolling up our sleeves and putting our faith into practice through a direct involvement, one that cannot be delegated,” Pope Francis said.

“No one must say that they cannot be close to the poor because their own lifestyle demands more attention to other areas. This is an excuse commonly heard in academic, business or professional, and even ecclesial circles. None of us can think we are exempt from concern for the poor and for social justice,” he added.

The pope underlined that it is not a question of approaching the poor with “a welfare mentality,” but of ensuring that no one lacks what is necessary.

He warned Catholics against laxity and inconsistent behavior with regard to the poor.

He said: “At times … a kind of laxity can creep in and lead to inconsistent behavior, including indifference about the poor. It also happens that some Christians, out of excessive attachment to money, remain mired in a poor use of their goods and wealth. These situations reveal a weak faith and feeble, myopic hope.”

Pope Francis established the World Day of the Poor in 2016 at the end of the Church’s Jubilee Year of Mercy. The day is celebrated each year on the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, a week before the feast of Christ the King.

The 6th World Day of the Poor will be celebrated on Nov. 13 with the theme “for your sakes Christ became poor,” inspired by 2 Corinthians 8:9.

In the message, signed on the June 13 feast day of St. Anthony of Padua, the pope made a distinction between poverty that humiliates, in which people live in squalor, and Christian poverty that sets people free and brings peace.

“Jesus’ words are clear: if we want life to triumph over death, and dignity to be redeemed from injustice, we need to follow Christ’s path of poverty, sharing our lives out of love, breaking the bread of our daily existence with our brothers and sisters, beginning with the least of them, those who lack the very essentials of life,” he said.

“This is the way to create equality, to free the poor from their misery and the rich from their vanity, and both from despair.”

At a press conference on June 14, Archbishop Rino Fisichella highlighted some Vatican initiatives to help aid the poor in coordination with the World Day of the Poor.

He said that 500 families received assistance with rent, insurance, gas, electricity, and water bills thanks in part to the Italian financial services company UnipolSai, and that tons of basic food supplies were distributed thanks to the generous collaboration of local supermarkets in the Diocese of Rome.

In his message for the World Day of the Poor, Pope Francis also raised the question of what more can be done to help the millions of people living in war-torn Ukraine and other conflict zones.

“What great poverty is produced by the senselessness of war,” he said.

“Millions of women, children, and elderly people are being forced to brave the danger of bombs just to find safety by seeking refuge as displaced persons in neighboring countries. How many others remain in the war zones, living each day with fear and the lack of food, water, medical care, and above all human affections?”

“How can we respond adequately to this situation, and to bring relief and peace to all these people in the grip of uncertainty and instability?” he asked.

[…]

1 Comment

  1. Young people are blessed with the ability to bring about changes in our way of proceeding. The present and the future of Planet Earth is firmly in the hands of our youth. May each one of them be blessed with strength and stamina to spread the Good News.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated. While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged, please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion, comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published. Thank you.


*