Pope's 'Jubilee of Youth' ends with Rome mass

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00Hundreds of thousands of young Catholics gave the Pontiff a rapturous welcome, just as they did on Saturday.

00:07The Pontiff then made a dramatic entrance by helicopter and addressed the 800,000 pilgrims who had come from 146 countries for the Jubilee.

00:16Good morning. We will shortly begin the greatest celebration that Christ left us, his very presence in the Eucharist.

00:32God bless you all. And may this be a truly memorable occasion for each and every one of us.

00:42We can go to Rome now, where our correspondent Seema Gupta is standing by.

00:46Good morning, Seema. How significant is this Youth Jubilee for the new Pope?

00:54Well, yes, you're absolutely right. A Pope that was elected just on May 8th.

00:58And this Jubilee, a massive event. Some saying hundreds of thousands.

01:04The Italian media saying as many as a million young people from so many different countries.

01:09To see a Pope that is so much younger than his predecessor, Pope Francis, to see him getting on a helicopter, on that Pope mobile,

01:19reaching out to try and catch some of the flags and even soft toys that are being thrown at him to connect with the youth.

01:27It's a very different kind of image to see a younger Pope.

01:30And really, some would say perhaps this baptism of fire just a few months after his election at this Youth Jubilee event here in Rome,

01:40connecting with the youth.

01:42Now, he has said very clearly to them so far that this event is about finding hope and friendship in faith

01:51as they gather here from all around the world and calling on them to persevere in faith.

01:56And this event, this Sunday Mass at this location on the outskirts of Rome, of course, a culmination of one week of events.

02:06And the entire thing started out with a gathering of hundreds of Catholic influencers, if you like,

02:13people who are doing their evangelization online, spreading the faith online.

02:19So really, the church wanting to connect with the youth in the method in which they're communicating in these days.

02:26That said, though, some have said that there has been a drop in terms of participation.

02:31If you compare the last Jubilee, which was 25 years ago, and that was under the then Pope John Paul II, now St. John Paul, of course,

02:40there were two million people who gathered at that event.

02:44Others might say precisely because everything is so much more available online,

02:48maybe fewer people have decided to travel to this event.

02:52But what is very clear from the last one week, looking at people trying to connect with this new Pope,

02:58they're clearly very excited to be here in Rome at this very key event for them in this Jubilee Catholic year.

03:05So this year, it may be a smaller figure of a smaller number of people than it was 25 years ago,

03:13but it's still significant. It's 800,000 people.

03:17Some people, some figures are even putting it as high as one million.

03:21And not everyone in Rome, though, is happy about this large influx of people

03:26with their complaints about crowding and public transport and other things.

03:29Absolutely. We've heard reports of people very frustrated that these young people are clogging up the metros and the buses.

03:41The Italian media has dubbed this as the Catholic Woodstock.

03:44And so you've seen over the last week young people crowding the piazzas of Rome,

03:49gathering to sing, to dance, to break into prayer, to break into song.

03:54It's a festival atmosphere. But with that, of course, comes those crowds, people, some Romans complaining about the trash.

04:03They're not picking up after themselves. How are they keeping clean?

04:07The fact that they are crowding that site on the outskirts of Rome.

04:11That said, though, this Jubilee event is a centuries-old pilgrimage.

04:16Rome is used to dealing with these types of crowds.

04:19And let's not forget that aside from money from the European Union for the recovery of Italy,

04:24there have been funds coming in because of this Jubilee to spruce up the city as well

04:29and to have lots of construction work.

04:31That has created frustration among Romans.

04:33But the city is used to dealing with this.

04:36And the authorities, at least, are very pleased about what's being carried out,

04:40not just in terms of the services, but also some 4,000 security personnel on hand

04:45to make sure that things go on safely.

04:49Thank you very much for that, Seema Gupta in Rome.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended