Pope: 40 Days to WYD, 'My doctor says I can go, I cannot wait!'

By Salvatore Cernuzio

"Some think that because of illness, I cannot go, but the doctor told me I can, so I will be with you. Come on, young people!" On the same morning in which during the audience at ROACO, he spoke of some discomfort from the recent laparotomy operation, the Pope sent a message to the young people from every continent who will all gather in Lisbon from 1 to 6 August for World Youth Day and reassured them of his presence at the great event.

Showing the grey backpack with the kit that will be distributed to the pilgrims, he says: "There are 40 days left, like Lent, to the meeting in Lisbon. I am ready! I already have everything. I can't wait to go!"

Pray for those who reduce life to ideas

The Pope speaks to young people, both those busy preparing for the trip, and those who will follow the world meeting from a distance - in a video message recorded today, 22 June, during an audience at the Vatican with Bishop Américo Manuel Alves Aguiar, Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon and President of the WYD Foundation.

The World Youth Day organisation released two videos: one addressed to the participants, the other to those who have been working for months to set up the organisation, welcome and accommodation for pilgrims.

"The Day is a point of attraction for everyone. Right now it is the point we must look toward, toward which you young people must look,' the Pope says. "Come on, young people!" he encourages, adding, "Don't listen to those who reduce life to ideas. Those poor people who have lost the joy of life and the joy of encounter. Pray for them".

The three languages

As in other meetings with the new generations, Francis once again asks the young people to approach life with "the three languages" of the head, heart, and hands: of the head to think clearly about what we feel and do; of the heart to feel well, deeply, what we think and do; of the hands to realise what we feel and think.

"Come on, be cheerful. See you in Lisbon!" is his final greeting.

Thanks to the "workers"

Speaking in another video message to the "trabalhadores", the "workers" of WYD, the Pope first of all expresses his gratitude: "Thank you. I know that you are spending hours and hours of work to make all this possible. And this is not the worst part. The most difficult part will come later, when during WYD, you have to maintain the structures of order, health, food, cleanliness, so many things that are necessary. You do not appear as the protagonists of WYD, but it is you who make it possible."

"WYD cannot be realised without your work. For this I say thank you, thank you for being seeds. You are like seeds, you will germinate from below. You cannot see it, but the fruit will be born."

Encouragement

"Thank you for helping this organisation. Thank you for your generosity," repeats the Bishop of Rome. 

Pope Francis, as confirmed by the Vatican Press Office, will be in Lisbon from 2 to 6 August. A stop at the Marian Shrine of Fatima is planned for the 5th: a return, after the 2017 trip on the occasion of the centenary of the Marian apparitions to the three shepherd children.