At a certain age, people believe that the world can change direction. That’s why in revolutions and causes, young people are the first to arrive. Also in faith. This Saturday, youth have taken Madrid. They arrive in groups, with backpacks on their backs, flags tied to their waists, and phones in hand to serve as a compass and store memories. “Now all my Instagram is photos of the Pope, how cool,” says a young woman on the metro heading towards Plaza San Juan de la Cruz, a few meters from Plaza de Lima where Leo XIV will celebrate a vigil after eight in the evening.
They are “making a mess,” as the late Francis asked them to, and making it clear that “this is the Pope’s youth,” a chant popularized in the time of John Paul II and that has survived pontificates, fashions, and changes of era.
In a city saturated with tourists this first weekend of June, they stand out, above all, for the anticipation on their faces. An electric current also runs through their bodies. “We come to listen to what he has to tell us and to gather all the young people and the whole Church,” says the same young woman. Reports Belén Picornell.
Today, enthusiasm has many faces, including those of Nuria Leal (21 years old), Andrea de Meer (18), and Lorena Ushiña (24). “Now that we are young, it’s our time to give our all for faith,” they say. They have come with the Hogar de la Madre and appreciate that he comes to dialogue with young people because “many times the world wants to take away their faith.” Then they make a precision, essential for them. “He knows that we come to see him not for who he is, but for what he represents, which is Jesus.” Reports Silvia Lorenzo.
