Twenty-five years have gone by since St. John Paul II transformed the Tor Vergata esplanade in the south of Rome into the beating heart of the young Church for the World Youth Day celebration in 2000. Now, that same area, over 200 acres and best known for being the site of one of Italy’s leading public universities, is preparing to welcome a new generation.
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A vigil and Mass with Pope Leo XIV will take place there Aug. 2–3. These two events will be the epicenter of the Jubilee of Youth, over which the pope will preside from July 28 to Aug. 3 and during which thousands of young people are expected to spend the night in tents at the site.
The celebration inevitably recalls the moment a quarter of a century ago when 2 million hopeful young people, unconcerned with the heat and the discomfort of sleeping outdoors, flooded the outskirts of Rome with their radiant faith. As the Polish pope said at the time: “They made a noise in Rome that will never be forgotten.”
An open-air sanctuary
On those days in August 2000, St. John Paul II was physically weak, but he created a lasting bond with the young people, visible in every gesture he made and every word he spoke. Tor Vergata became an open-air sanctuary, where the pain of the wars of the 20th century and the hope of the third millennium came together.
During the vigil and Mass, the pontiff spoke words that still resonate strongly: “If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze!”
But the most powerful aspect was not the content of the pope’s message but the source: Christ himself.
“It is Jesus in fact that you seek when you dream of happiness,” proclaimed St. John Paul II, outlining a spiritual journey that transformed World Youth Day into much more than an event. It became a vocational, communal, and missionary journey that has been etched in the memories of many young people who have since directed their lives toward God.
Leo XIV now carries the torch
The pope is calling on young people to return to Tor Vergata with renewed vigor. The imposing 15,000-square-foot stage for Leo XIV will stand in the same location as it did in 2000 as a symbol of continuity.
As then, a massive number of pilgrims is expected — 1 million, by the organizers’ estimates — many on foot, others by bus, but all with one shared desire: to experience a moment with the successor of Peter that will transform their lives forever.
Organizing the event has been a monumental logistical and technological effort: There are 355 giant tents, 179 audio and video towers, 2,000 speakers, nearly 26,000 square feet of giant screens, 110 generators, and 122 surveillance cameras. There will be a 4,300-square-foot control room and guaranteed internet access thanks to 12 miles of fiber optic cable and nine miles of electrical wiring.
“We want to guarantee not only security but also a spiritual and community experience of the highest level,” explained Agostino Miozzo, head of logistics for the city of Rome, at a press conference.
A different world, but the same message
Although the world has changed profoundly since 2000, the core of the message remains. At that time, St. John Paul II denounced the 20th century as an era of hatred and fratricidal wars. Today, Leo XIV inherits a much more fractured world with new social divides: digital loneliness, forgotten wars, climate crises, economic injustices, and growing distrust of institutions, including of the Catholic Church.
Faced with this landscape, the Jubilee of Youth will not be a simple festive gathering but a renewed “missionary mandate” in continuity with the one that occurred 25 years ago. Young people today, just as those back then, are called to go against the flow, to not resign themselves or anesthetize their desire for God.
As John Paul II said: “It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to make something great of your lives.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
