Catholics gear for World Youth Day

MORE than 200 youths, mainly from the Roman Catholic Church, will participate at this year’s World Youth Day celebrations in Krakow, Poland in July.

Zimbabwe WYD taskforce head of administration and registration Mr Bothwell Munetsi told The Sunday Mail Religion they had already paid their registration fees.

Flanking the nine-day itinerary are optional and customisable pre-World Youth Day and post-World Youth Day extension programmes.

The week-long celebrations will run from July 25 to August 30 under the theme “Blessed are the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them”, taken from Matthew 5:7. Mr Munetsi said Zimbabwe would this year send 230 young people to the celebrations.

“One hundred and thirty youths will go under the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishop Conference, 50 under Majis Zimbabwe, a Jesuit-oriented youth movement based in Harare, and 50 under St Gerald Parish.

Catholics gear for World Youth Day

“Inasmuch as this is a Catholic event, the invitations will stretch to other denominations as long as they are aware that this is a Catholic-oriented event. The occasion is organised to celebrate being a catholic youth and Pope Francis will officiate it,” he said.

Mr Munetsi said the celebrations would give Catholic youths opportunities to network, socialise and deepen their faith.

“We will have an opportunity to interact with the Pope for the whole week and to us it’s a lifetime chance that we cannot afford to miss for anything. “A number of activities will be lined up for the participants; some of the activities will include International Rosary wave, Virgin Mass among many others acts of worship, recreation and culture.”

Mr Munetsi said Zimbabwe started participating in WYD celebrations in 1994.

“Back then our participation at WYD international events was not good, we have been sending about two to four representatives but in 2011 we managed to send 121 youths to Madrid in Spain. And in 2013 the representatives increased to 267 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,” he said.

Roman Catholic Diocese of Harare youth spiritual director Father Cloudy Maganga said Pople John Paul II established WYD.

“Our two great saints of mercy, Pope John Paul II and St Faustina, hail from Krakow, Poland. This is why Pope Francis deliberately announced that this year’s celebrations should be held there, it has a significance,” said Fr Maganga.

Mr Munetsi added, “Youths were very important to Pope John Paul II and before he gave his first speech as pope, he said to the young people: ‘. . . my hope, because you are the promise of tomorrow. You are the hope of the church and society.’

“These celebrations will provide our youth and other pilgrims with a customised religious group travel experience that is professionally organised and at the same time, responsive to the spiritual purpose of their journey.”