This morning, the World Youth Day (WYD) Lisbon 2023 Foundation presented the Youth Festival program. This festival consists of a series of cultural, religious and sporting events organised by the WYD Lisbon 2023 where pilgrims are involved, aimed at sharing the Christian experience, as a result of the creativity and generosity of each one.

Through various events, such as musical performances, dance and theatre shows, conferences and meetings, young people will be able to be part of an experience of joy and universality of faith, testifying the liveliness of the Catholic Church and the transmission of faith through the universality of artistic language.

All around Lisbon city and also in the municipalities of Loures, Almada, Amadora, Cascais, Oeiras and Torres Vedras, between August 1st and 6th, scenarios and different spaces will be spread out always with free admission, where more than 500 events, led by 2,500 artists, will seek the transmission of an experience of the beauty and kindness of God.

According to Cláudia Lourenço, coordinator of the Youth Festival, "the event will be a very beautiful moment during the WYD. We want the Festival to continue the atmosphere of the World Youth Day, an atmosphere of joy, celebration, sharing". "It will be an opportunity to see the faith of a living and young Church," she added.

During the presentation this morning, July 21st, some moments of the Youth Festival were highlighted: presentation of the Young Portuguese Orchestra and Youth Orchestra Generation, at CCB; Cristonauts Park, a large digital interactive circuit, at Martim Moniz; Fatima Experience, at Pátio da Galé; exhibition on the life of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, at Igreja da Graça; Vita Prima exhibition, about  the life of St Anthony, at the Museum of Lisbon-Palácio Pimenta; conferences with the families and friends of the young Patron Saints of the WYD, at the Champalimaud Foundation; Mozart ON concert, performed by young inmates of the Leiria Prison, at the Gulbenkian Foundation; presentation of "The Cinema according to Francis", at the Cinemateca; veneration of the relics of the Beatified  and patron Saints of WYD in the churches of the city.

"If it is authentic, the artist will be able to speak of God better than anyone else, to make people perceive His beauty and goodness, to reach the human heart and make the truth and goodness of the Risen Lord shine in it", Pope Francis stressed in the speech on February 17th, 2022.

The program of the Youth Festival can be consulted here and will be available on the Official App of the WYD Lisbon 2023.