In anticipation of the 2023 World youth Day, EWTN reporter Colm Flynn spoke with the Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon, Cardinal-designate Americo Aguiar, about what to expect from World Youth Day, the centrality of young people meeting with the Holy Father, and why this event is so important to Pope Francis.
Colm Flynn: Bishop, great to talk to you. How are you feeling as World Youth Day approaches?
Bishop Aguiar: We are ninety days away. Today, there are exactly ninety days left until World Youth Day. It’s like a defibrillator, a shock to the heart of those remaining days. But, in anticipation of getting closer and closer to receiving young people from all over the world for a meeting with Pope Francis, but above all, for a meeting with the living Christ, we are very excited about the arrival of the big day!
Colm Flynn: In your meetings with Pope Francis what has he expressed to you for his hope and desire for World Youth Day here in Lisbon?
Bishop Aguiar: The Pope has high expectations for the Lisbon journey. I believe it can be a turning point, a before and after for the youth of the whole world, which in the last three or four years has experienced a pandemic, economic crisis, war – it is thirsty. There is a desire for an encounter – the culture of encounter – which Pope Francis challenges us so much to adopt. It is very important that we are capable of embracing our city, our country, in our hearts, our families, and our villages. Welcoming young people from all over the world with open arms and, above all, being together, getting to know each other, taking care of one another, loving each other, so that they return to their lives with the desire to become better people – this is the main objective.
Colm Flynn: That’s extremely ambitious, isn’t it? Especially with what everyone has been through in the last couple of years. Do you find it exciting, challenging? How do you feel looking ahead to this big event?
Bishop Aguiar: We saw World Youth Day in Panama and we realized that organizing the journey is not humanly possible: it is God’s Providence. And, at the moment we convinced ourselves that we are fragile, we are small, and we are not capable of doing this, we have already reached this day, and we are aware that we have a little bit of each one of us. God will provide for the World Youth Day. It is what God wants, what the Pope invites, and what the youth of the whole world needs. We are intermediaries, so to speak, to provide the necessary logistics and spiritual preparation for the young people to come to Lisbon and meet this high expectation. But, God will provide incentives to deal with the problems that arise every day and the solutions that God presents ahead.
Colm Flynn: There have been some incredible World Youth Days, in Germany, Panama, and Australia: what do you think will make World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal, extra special?
Bishop Aguiar: The expectation that the Pope has is that the journey to Lisbon be special, like a turning point, a milestone. I believe this could be the most significant aspect of this journey. We are living in a very strange time, where the Pope asks young people to be dreamers, fighters, and poets who can find in Lisbon the megaphone to amplify what they propose for the future.
What do young people propose for the future? Have you considered what their dreams are? Until today, we have witnessed a global geopolitics that builds obstacles. Until not long ago, any solution meant an obstacle, a border checkpoint. But Pope Francis, in the last ten years, has shown us how to overcome these barriers. The problems are solved with connections, not obstacles, going to the limit of the desire to know. It’s not a wall. It’s not an obstacle.
I want to get to know each other! I have the desire to know. From the moment I recognize that, it becomes a wealth. And so, we can continue to think ahead. To like different colors, different sports, different politics, right-wing or left-wing – that’s diversity. Knowing each other is a treasure, and we will build the world with the richness of this diversity.
And the Lisbon journey can be the context for youth from all over the world to shout to the adults, the elders, the political prisoners, that it’s not about this economy, it’s not about the choice of war, it’s not about building walls. We will build the new future; this can be the profound mark of World Youth Day.
