Each volunteer lives a different experience, but one thing is certain: no one leaves World Youth Day indifferent. It's your turn to create memories and live your own experience! Register as a volunteer here.

The first phase of registration for core volunteers ends on April 20. All core volunteers who have paid before that date will be assigned first to the areas where they will be working. This assignment will be communicated by May 20. More information about the application process here.

To better understand the work of a volunteer during World Youth Day (WYD) Lisbon 2023, we present the testimony of three young people who volunteered in past WYDs. 

Rodrigo Figueiredo is 26 years old and was a volunteer at World Youth Day Panama 2019, the last one before WYD Lisbon 2023. Invited by the Patriarchate of Lisbon, the young Portuguese went to Panama with the mission of understanding how a Local Organizing Committee (LOC) worked and what the organization of this meeting consisted of.

During the week of WYD Panama 2019 Rodrigo was close to the pilgrims, since at one point he stayed in the city helping in the process of reception and accreditation of the large number of young people who went there to validate their participation in WYD Panama 2019 and pick up their pilgrim kits. "It was a very nice ecclesial experience, in which I was able to work with the team responsible for the reception and accreditation of the pilgrims," revealed the young man.

Currently a volunteer with the Lisbon Diocesan Organizing Committee (COD), Rodrigo highlights the "enthusiasm" he feels at now having the opportunity to "volunteer in the city where I was born and raised."

Clara Pereira also reinforced this idea by affirming that "by putting ourselves at the service of the Church, of the Pope and of young people," as happens in volunteering for a World Youth Day, "you always gain much more than you give." This 29-year-old was a volunteer at WYD Krakow 2016, as part of the Communications team, managing the social networks in Portuguese.

According to her, "from a distance it may seem like a titanic task, but it wasn't." "We had a very well-structured team, clear instructions and all the support and security to do our job," which consisted mainly of "transforming the Pope's homilies and speeches into tweets, posting the best photos and stories or turning important information into interesting content," she revealed.

After her experience in Krakow, Clara is also a volunteer in the communication team of WYD Lisbon 2023 since 2020. Being a volunteer at World Youth Day "is an unforgettable experience, the fruits of which we take with us for life," she says. Moreover, now "we are the ones who receive, who put our hands in the dough and create, from the beginning, this experience".

Filipe Teixeira, 38, was a volunteer at WYD Rio 2013, also in the communication team, but in the Design department, for nine months.

Before leaving for Brazil, in 2012, "I had many doubts about what I was going to do, if I would adapt or if I would have the strength not to leave before July 2013". Once in Brazil, "I realized that everything was ready" and that "the tasks were only difficult if we wanted to do them alone."

As for the experience of being a volunteer, Filipe believes that being a volunteer and "serving others, I meet Christ", living, above all, a "lot of experiences and seeing the Gospel alive in the lives of pilgrims and other volunteers".

Of all the experiences lived, he highlights the lunch with Pope Francis, since he was one of the young people who had this opportunity. "At that moment we were able to give a little to know what are the questions and doubts of young people in the world", he recalled.