From a night of worship and testimony sharing to a morning Mass with the pope, all young people around the world are invited to Rome to take part in an event called the Jubilee of Youth. This event is expected to be the longest and largest Jubilee celebration, lasting 5 days with over 1 million young people in attendance. Come with EWTN to see the preparations being made for this rare and exciting time in history.

Just next to St. Peter’s Square, the Dicastery for Evangelization has set up the Youth Info Point — the heart of logistics and hospitality. 

Behind the scenes, volunteers like Zemmy from Portugal are helping young people from around the world feel welcome as they arrive in Rome for the Jubilee of Youth. EWTN spoke with Zemmy to understand his work.

Why are you passionate about helping people the way that you do? 

“If you look around and if you come to the info point, you’ll see that we have Polish, Spanish, French, English, Portuguese, and Italian so we are trying to be as accommodating as possible for everyone. And since I speak Portuguese it makes sense for me to come to the help desk.”

Have you ever met the Pope? 

“We’ve seen him. We’ve seen him really close sometimes. 

“We are so close to him spiritually at least. Like when we are helping with these ceremonies, it's like we are bringing Christ to others. You feel like you're bringing Christ through others, which is such a big responsibility, but it's such a huge privilege as well. Which in the end just ends up filling me with joy.” 

Zemmy also unpacked the Jubilee Kits they have prepared for young pilgrims who are travelling to Rome. 

The kits include one green shirt, one white shirt, a water bottle, a bandana, a lanyard, a rosary bracelet and a Jubilee hat. 

Packed with activities the Jubilee of Youth will include Masses, concerts, and time for confession and the pilgrimage to meet with the Holy Father at Tor Vergata. The upcoming meeting with Pope Leo at Tor Vergata will mark his first major gathering with young people since the start of his pontificate. 

Many people are expected to attend this Jubilee of Youth. At a press conference, Monsignor Graziano Borgonovo, Under‑Secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization, announced that Rome is preparing for one million young people to attend the Jubilee of Youth with events planned across the entire city.

Monsignor shared, “There will be various moments, also located in various squares of the city, as well as here in the Vatican area, waiting for the vigil on Saturday, August 2nd, and the final Mass with the Holy Father who will also be present at the vigil on Sunday, August 3rd in Tor Vergata.” 

Pope Leo has won the hearts of young people from the moment of his election. After the white smoke appeared, many youth gathered in St. Peter’s Square to greet the new Pope.  

A pilgrim named Sophia shared, “I think it’s really awesome that the church is looking to be more with the youth, to be more with them and to accommodate to the necessities of the youngest people of the Church so that they can follow more and not think the Church is something old and passages for old people but it’s something new and it’s changing and it’s evolving for us and I think it’s awesome that they can do that” 

Known for his closeness to young people, Pope Leo has made the outreach to youth a hallmark of his pontificate. Delivering a video message to Americans at Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, Pope Leo urged them to be protagonists of a future rooted in faith and love:

“‘Hope does not disappoint,’ Saint Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans (5,5). When I see each and every one of you, when I see how people gather together to celebrate their faith, I discover myself how much hope there is in the world.” 

Among the many participants coming to Rome for the Jubilee of Youth is Adam Bates. He will be travelling with several other college students to Rome to participate in holy Mass with the new Pope. 

Adam told EWTN, “I've always wanted to go to Rome, especially for the past five years or so, as I've gotten more interested in the faith, I want to go see Saint Peter's and see all the beautiful churches and everything there, all the holy sites.” 

We asked, “Why are you excited to see the Pope, or potentially meet him? What is exciting about that for you?” 

“Obviously,” Adam said, “the first American pope that's exciting in and of itself. Any pope I would be happy to meet, because he is the successor of Saint Peter. So if Pope Francis was still alive, I would have loved to see him and meet him. But now Pope Leo, an American, what a great opportunity.” 

Since the last Jubilee, in 2000, this generation of youth now have an opportunity to celebrate their faith and travel to Rome for the Jubilee of Hope 2025. 

As you can see, this next generation is inspiring all of us to deepen our faith and connect to our community like never before. 

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Caitlyn Shaw, EWTN Intern, wrote this story. Adapted by Jacob Stein.