Pilgrims depart Tor Vergata with tearful eyes and cherished memories after a sleepless night under the stars, yet the vibrant spirit of the million-strong World Youth Day (WYD) 2025 crowd that animated Rome will not fade. Pope Leone has already reconvened the global youth, announcing the next official WYD will take place in Seoul, South Korea, from August 3-8, 2027. This follows the 2023 Lisbon event where his predecessor, Pope Francis, echoed the call of “todos, todos, todos” (all, all, all).
Immediately following these jubilee days, the Church under Pope Leone will mark another highly significant event: the canonizations of Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati. Both will be elevated to sainthood on September 7th in St. Peter’s Square.
These new saints are presented as role models for the youth of the new millennium. Acutis, a 15-year-old Lombard student who died of leukemia and is buried in Assisi, embodies engagement with the pervasive digital world – a central challenge for young digital natives. From a young age, he used the internet to create websites dedicated to devotion, particularly to the Virgin Mary.
Similarly, Frassati, a Turin student whose sophistication belied his message, offers youth a path forward. Pope Leone evoked him during the Tor Vergata vigil, stating: “Friendship can change the world, it can be the path to peace.” Quoting Frassati, the Pope added: “To live without faith is not to live, but to get along.”
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