WYD cross to be given to Portuguese young people at pope’s Mass Nov. 22

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Young people representing their peers in Panama will hand the World Youth Day cross to young people from Portugal at the end of Pope Francis’ Mass Nov. 22 for the feast of Christ the King.

Youths from Poland present the World Youth Day cross to young representatives from Panama at the conclusion of Palm Sunday Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in this April 9, 2017, file photo. Young people from Panama will pass the World Youth Day cross to their Portuguese peers Nov. 22 at the end of Pope Francis’ Mass for the feast of Christ the King. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

The young hosts of World Youth Day 2019 in Panama originally were scheduled to give the cross and a Marian icon to Portuguese representatives at the end of Mass on Palm Sunday in April. But the COVID-19 pandemic and its travel restrictions made that impossible.

Just a few weeks later, the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life, which coordinates World Youth Day, announced that the Lisbon event would be pushed back a year to August 2023.

The pope’s Mass and the passing of the cross will be livestreamed.

Leaders of youth and young adult ministry from bishops’ conferences around the world and from Catholic movements will join the virtual celebration after meeting online Nov. 18-21 for a conference titled, “From Panama to Lisbon — Called to Missionary Synodality.”

Author: Catholic News Service

Catholic News Service is the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ news and information service.

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