Youth Day at Tor Vergata

The first major event of his pontificate, after the inauguration Mass of course, was the Jubilee dedicated to youth, 28 July-3 August, the highlight of the holy year that had been somewhat overshadowed by Francis' illness and death. More than a million boys and girls of different ages and backgrounds (especially from the Spanish-speaking world) had crowded the streets of Rome for days, then poured into Tor Vergata for the vigil and Mass with the Successor of Peter. "A spectacle of faces, lights, colours, flags, smartphones ready to take up the words of the Pontiff who encouraged the new generations not to be satisfied with superficiality, but to build authentic bonds, overcoming hyper-connection and incommunicability, aspiring to holiness," recalls Vatican News. From those days, the surprise of the Pope appearing in a jeep in Via della Conciliazione and St. Peter's Square to greet the multitude gathered for the opening celebration of the Jubilee also remains impressed. "You are the light of the world!" he said, raising his voice.