On Thursday, July 28, 2016 Pope Francis was officially welcomed to World Youth Day at Jordan Park, Blonia in Krakow. Below, find the full text of his prepared address: Dear Young Friends, good evening! At last we are together! Thank you for your warm welcome! I thank Cardinal Dziwisz, the bishops, priests, men and women religious, ...read more

In a video link with Italian youth on Wednesday evening, Pope Francis responded to questions of three young people. Below is the English translation of the dialogue. P. –Good evening, your Holiness. First of all, thank you for finding the time, even though you have just arrived in Krakow, to link up with us. You ...read more

On Thursday, July 28, 2016, during his visit to Poland for World Youth Day Krakow 2016, Pope Francis celebrated the 1050th anniversary of the Baptism of Poland, in the area near the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa. Below, you will find the full text of his homily: From the readings of this Liturgy a ...read more

Written by Ian Meaden Well…this is going to be interesting. (Now I could be mean and just leave it at that and make you wonder ‘what’s going to be interesting’? But then I’d have to confess how mean I was…) So, here what’s interesting, I’ve been asked to be a blogger and submit a few ...read more

  Kraków, Poland – July 21, 2016 –  The Youth Festival for World Youth Day Krakow 2016 aims to unite youth from around the world through entertainment, cultural development and spiritual formation. It will last four days, from July 26 to 29, consisting of various events spread throughout the city. The Youth Festival is a ...read more

Written by Katie VanLeeuwen Entering any new situation comes with a certain amount of anxiety for most people. Picture yourself as a young person walking into a crowded cafeteria. The first thing you do is look around to see if there is anyone you know, right? If there are no familiar faces then you pick ...read more

“If I did not simply live from one moment to another, it would be impossible for me to be patient. But I only look at the present, I forget the past, and I take good care not to forestall the future.” – St. Therese of Lisieux  Written by Celine Diaz In an ideal world, I ...read more

  written by Risabella Roque World Youth Day… In Europe…?! WITH THE POPE?!?! I’M IN. Upon hearing the news two years ago that the next World Youth Day would be in Europe, my thoughts went immediately to my sister. For how many years had we dreamed of going on an epic tour of Europe! And ...read more

Written by Kiara Smyth and St. Dominic Savio World Youth Day Group Excited.  Nervous.  Hopeful.  Energized.  Overwhelmed. These are some of the words my group and I used to explain how we are feeling as we sit on our first airplane heading to World Youth Day in Krakow.  Two of us have been to WYD ...read more

I have never experienced World Youth Day as a pilgrim, and yet I’m a huge fan of the event. In 2008 I had just joined Salt + Light (filling in for a colleague who had decided to volunteer for WYD Sydney)  and was part of the team in Toronto that helped get our Sydney team’s ...read more