World Youth Day (WYD) Lisbon 2023 is just around the corner and Italian pilgrims, as always, will not fail to attend. There are already news coming from different dioceses of the south of the country testifying the desire to participate in a large number of youngs. By bus, by plane, by ship, it does not matter. The "Youth of the Pope" is ready to make sacrifices to be "cum Petro et sub Petro", as we have already seen on many occasions, from the WYD Madrid under the lashing rain and the impetuous wind, to the WYD Rio de Janeiro and Panama under the scorching sun.   

From the Ecclesiastical Region of Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta there will be 4320 young pilgrims, hosted in the twin cities before arriving to Lisbon. On the other hand, more than a thousand pilgrims, including educators, young people, presbyters and bishops - are leaving from Apulia, gathered by the Regional Service for Youth Ministry. "WYD will once again become a fruitful environment for encounters and stories, which open us to listen to God and to ourselves. Let us rise up, like Mary, assuming the Easter posture of those who rise up, driven by the power of the Holy Spirit," was the wish of Mgr Giuseppe Satriano, Archbishop of Bari-Bitonto and President of the Apulian Bishops' Conference. The young people from Puglia were given a diary so that they could write down thoughts and reflections that contribute to their human and Christian growth.  

1200 young people from Liguria, from which 715 of them are from Genoa among educators and 26 priests. The largest group will start the trip in eleven coaches with a stop in Barcelona and destination to Lisbon. From Florence, instead, about 900 young people will leave. "To me, to those of us who are used to complaining about the absence of young people from Church life, this number sounds like an appeal: it is not true that young people, that all young people are far from the search of  an experience that brings them face to face with Christ; even if we do not know their deepest motivations, there are young people who are ready to answer  a call (...)" declared the Cardinal  Giuseppe Betori, Archbishop of Florence.   

Sicily will also make its contribution with 100 young people approximately from the dioceses of Trapani, Mazara del Vallo, Palermo, Agrigento, Piazza Armerina and Patti. "Live these days with enthusiasm and when you come back home, talk about those days with your friends and family. Your parish communities also await the fruit of your experience. The inconveniences will not prevent you from intensely experiencing moments of friendship and deepening of your human and Christian identity,' Bishop Pietro Maria Fragnelli of Trapani motivated them. Some of them will be hosted in the Centro Social Paroquial da Senhora do Calvário in Porto before arriving in Lisbon, and will finish their journey after the WYD in Fatima. From Lazio, on the other hand, one 1400 young people of 11 dioceses are ready. Together with them there will be 8 bishops, 4 of them auxiliaries of the diocese of Rome.