Pope Leo XIV presided over a final mass in Rome for over one million young people on Sunday, August 3rd, the culmination of a youth pilgrimage that has drawn Catholics from across the world.
The week-long event ending Sunday was the highlight of the Jubilee holy year that attracted around half a million young pilgrims to Rome for most of the week.
Most of those attending slept on the ground overnight in tents, in sleeping bags or or mats in anticipation of Sunday’s mass.
In his homily, Pope Leo said: „There is a burning question in our hearts, a need for truth that we cannot ignore, which leads us to ask ourselves: what is true happiness? What is the true meaning of life? What can free us from being trapped in meaninglessness, boredom and mediocrity?”, telling the young Catholics that the answer was to
Aspire to great things, to holiness, wherever you are. Do not settle for less.
The pope told the young pilgrims that when they return to their countries, they should “continue to walk joyfully in the footsteps of the Savior, and spread your enthusiasm and the witness of your faith to everyone you meet!”
