Statement of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life

(26 September 2023)

The Holy Father has chosen the themes of the two World Youth Days that will be celebrated in the particular Churches in 2023 and 2024, on the Solemnity of Christ the King, and that will mark the path of preparation for the Jubilee of Young People to take place as part of the Jubilee Year of 2025, whose motto is “Pilgrims of Hope”:

XXXVIII World Youth Day 2023: “Rejoicing in hope” (cf. Rom 12:12)

XXXIX World Youth Day 2024: “Those who hope in the Lord will run and not be weary” (cf. Is 40:31).

“The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men and women of today, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ”, as the 1965 Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes (n. 1) emphasised. Now as then, in today’s difficult times, the Church wishes to rekindle hope in the world. To do this, she relies especially on young people, who are the leading figures of history and “missionaries of joy”.

In the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit, Pope Francis wrote that Christ is “our hope, and in a wonderful way he brings youth to our world” (n. 1). With the themes of the two forthcoming World Youth Days, His Holiness now invites young people to deepen their understanding of Christian hope and to witness joyfully that Christ is alive.

News and other information regarding the World Youth Days can be found on the website of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life: www.laityfamilylife.va.