Preparations are in full swing for the Pilgrimage of adolescents to Rome and their meeting with Pope Francis, planned for next April 18, Monday of the Angel. January 31, the feast of Saint John Bosco, Patron of young people, was chosen symbolically to publish online the first instructions regarding the event promoted by the Church that is in Italy. The meeting will have its highlight in the dialogue between the adolescents and the Holy Father. It will be followed by a Prayer Vigil with the listening and meditation of chapter 21 of John’s Gospel.

Signs of Hope for Young People

 “After these months of uncertain life, it will be the first return of a meeting with the Pope in Saint Peter’s Square, and it seems to me particularly beautiful that it can happen with kids of that age band that have suffered a lot. We are in need of signs of hope,” said Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, Archbishop of Perugia-Città della Pieve and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI).

With this initiative, “we wish to encourage and give signs of hope to those that spend themselves for the growth of youngsters and to those that look to the Christian community as custodian of a future of life that is born of faith in the Risen Jesus,” added Father Michele Falabretti. The Director of the National Service for Youth Pastoral Care recalled that “in this logic, we launched last summer and handed the subsidy ‘Wind Seed.’”

The Logo

The adolescents’ pilgrimage will not be a simple gathering, but an experience of fraternal communion. The logo explains it: the ICHTUS, a fish formed by many blue circles placed around the cross-eye. With its vital form, swimming in the sea of men’s history, plowing the waves with trust. The cross’ orange color refers to the sun of Easter day. Instead, the blue circles recall many small drops of water, memory of Baptism, source of unity.

The tile #follow me, with the graphic sign # that symbolizes research, recalls the following, namely, the search for the meaning of one’s existence, which is renewed in the communion of brothers and of sisters with the Father, in the Love of the Son.

Translation by Virginia M. Forrester