2023 World Youth Day, Portugal, August 1-6, 2023

Mark your calendars for World Youth Day celebrated August 1-6, 2023.  Check the official website frequently for updated information. 

Since 1986, World Youth Day (WYD) is a gathering of young Catholics from all over the world with the Pope. It is also a pilgrimage, a celebration of youth, an expression of the universal Church and an intense moment of evangelization for the youth world. 

"Mary arose and went with haste" (Lk 1:39) is the scriptural quote chosen by Pope Francis as the motto of the XXVIII World Youth Day that will be held for the first time in the capital city of Lisbon, Portugal. The biblical phrase opens the account of the Visitation (Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth), a biblical episode following the Annunciation (the angel’s announcement to Mary that she would be the mother of the Son of God, and the theme of the last WYD, in Panama).  

The World Youth Day Lisbon 2023 theme song, entitled “Há Pressa no Ar”, was released in January 2021. The song, inspired on the WYD Lisbon 2023 theme "Mary rose up and went with haste" (LK 1:39), is about the ‘yes’ of Mary and about her rush to meet her cousin Elizabeth.

The United States, through the USCCB, will be providing support materials for leaders through guidebooks and its web page.

As we prepare for World Youth Day, let us join together in praying the official 2023 World Youth Day Prayer:

Our Lady of the Visitation,  

you who arose and went with haste towards the mountain to meet Elizabeth,  

lead us also to meet all those who await us  

to deliver them the living Gospel:  

Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord! 

We will go in a hurry, with no distraction or delay,  

but with readiness and joy.  

We will go peacefully, because those who take Christ take peace,  

and welldoing is the best wellbeing.  

Our Lady of the Visitation,  

with your inspiration, this World Youth Day  

will be the mutual celebration of the Christ we take, as You once did.  

Make it a time of testimony and sharing,  

fraternization, and giving thanks,  

each of us looking for the others who always wait.  

With you, we will continue on this path of gathering,  

so that our world will gather as well,  

in fraternity, justice and peace.  

Help us,  

Our Lady of the Visitation,  

to bring Christ to everyone, obeying the Father, in the love of the Spirit! Amen.