Short history of World Youth Day
PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea
26.07.2016 16:26
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Short history of World Youth Day
World Youth Day is a worldwide encounter with the head of the Catholic Church typically occurring every three years in different countries.
Many young pilgrims from various countries cheer in front of the memorial to Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz at World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland, 26 July 2016. Photo: EPA/ARMIN WEIGEL.
As Agnieszka Łaszczuk reports, the idea of the event came from Pope John Paul II who in 1984 announced 1985 as a Jubilee year for the Catholic Church.
With the aim to recognise the importance of the youth, he invited young people from all over the world to travel to Rome for Palm Sunday.
From that year forward, World Youth Day has been held, only on a much greater scale.
“You are the youth of the Church, which is ready to face the new millennium. You are the Church of tomorrow, the Church of hope,” Pope John Paul II said in Częstochowa at the 6th edition of World Youth Day in 1991, the first after the fall of communism in Europe.