ROME, Italy — Hundreds of thousands of young Catholics poured into a vast field on Rome’s outskirts on Saturday for the weekend highlight of the Vatican’s 2025 Holy Year: an evening vigil,
Hundreds of thousands of young Catholics poured into a vast field on Rome’s outskirts on Saturday for the weekend highlight of the Vatican’s 2025 Holy Year: an evening vigil, outdoor slumber party and morning Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV that marks his first big encounter with the next generation of Catholics.
Leo will surely like what he sees: For the past week, bands of young Catholics from around the world have invaded the area around St. Peter’s Square for their special Jubilee celebration, in this Holy Year in which 32 million people are expected to participate in a centuries-old pilgrimage to the seat of Catholicism.
The young people have been traipsing through cobblestoned streets in color-coordinated T-shirts, praying the rosary and singing hymns with guitars, bongo drums and tambourines shimmying alongside.
Using their flags as tarps to shield them from the sun, they have taken over entire piazzas for Christian rock concerts and inspirational talks, and stood for hours at the Circus Maximus to confess their sins to 1,000 priests offering the sacrament in a dozen different languages.
On Saturday, they began arriving at the Tor Vergata field on the eastern flank of Rome for the culmination of their Jubilee celebration—the encounter with Leo.
After walking 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the nearest subway station, they passed through security checks, picked up their boxed meals and set up camp, backpacks and sleeping bags at the ready and umbrellas planted to give them shade.
