World Youth Day 2019 - Panama
-
January 13, 2019WORLD YOUTH DAY 2019 - PANAMA
World Youth Day 2019 is an international Catholic event focused on religious faith and youth, due to be celebrated this coming week from January 22-27, 2019 in Panama City, Panama. Pope Francis will preside over the major events that bring together young Catholics from over the entire world. Please keep these pilgrims and our Holy Father in your prayers during this event.
About World Youth Day:World Youth Day (WYD) is an event for young people organized by the Catholic Church.
World Youth Day was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985. Its concept has been influenced by the Light-Life Movement that has existed in Poland since the 1960s, where during summer camps Catholic young adults over 13 days of camp celebrated a "day of community".
For the first celebration of WYD in 1986, bishops were invited to schedule an annual youth event to be held every Palm Sunday in their dioceses. It is celebrated at the diocesan level annually, and at the international level every two to three years at different locations.
The 1995 World Youth Day closing Mass in the Philippines set a world record for the largest number of people gathered for a single religious event with 5 million attendees— a record surpassed when 6 million attended a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in the Philippines 20 years later in 2015.