Pope Leo XIV has encouraged young people gathered at the final Mass for the Jubilee of Youth to ‘aspire to great things, to holiness, wherever you are. Do not settle for less. You will then see the light of the Gospel growing every day, in you and around you.’
His encouragement came as more than a million pilgrims gathered for the concluding celebrations at Rome’s Tor Vergata neighbourhood on the outskirts of the city, which included a prayer vigil the night before.
The week began with a gathering for digital missionaries and Catholic influencers, with multiple cultural events, prayer experiences and concerts held at various sites across the city. Melburnians travelling to the Jubilee of Youth attended the opening Mass in St Peter’s Square, celebrated by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, and were overjoyed when Pope Leo XIV made a surprise appearance at the end of Mass to greet the crowds.
‘The excitement that bubbled up as he came past us crackled in the air,’ according to Melbourne local Faith Bui, who says she already had an inkling that the Pope would make an appearance.
‘I don’t think my heart was prepared. To be able to see him in person so soon after his appointment as pope was amazing, and to hear him say to us in St Peter’s Square, “You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world” was unreal,’ she shares.
After the Pope’s appearance, there were smiles and tears of joy among pilgrims, says Faith, ‘and the elation we felt from his greeting to us was palpable, and a great start to the Jubilee of Youth.’
While in Rome, the pilgrims also made the journey to the holy doors at St Peter’s Basilica, the Basilica of St Mary Major, the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls and the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran. The experience powerfully evoked a sense of the divine, the pilgrims say.
It is like being transported to a different place ... a slice of heaven.
‘There is a beauty about this basilica,’ recalls Melbourne pilgrim Julia, describing St John Lateran. ‘Everything is in white as you enter, but then when you get to the back of the basilica, it is full of gold.’
‘It is like being transported to a different place ... a slice of heaven. It’s truly beautiful.’
‘We walk together’: Pope Leo at final Mass
After touching down by helicopter less than 12 hours after leaving the evening vigil, the pope rode in the popemobile throughout the open areas—dotted with tents and tarps, and filled with young people, cheering, waving their nation’s flags, and sometimes launching at him shirts and gifts.
‘Good morning!’ he said in six languages from the massive stage set up for the Mass.
‘I hope you all rested a little bit,’ he said in English. ‘We will shortly begin the greatest celebration that Christ left us: his very presence in the Eucharist.’
He said he hoped the concluding Mass would be ‘a truly memorable occasion for each and every one of us’ because ‘when together, as Christ’s Church, we follow, we walk together, we live with Jesus Christ.’
We feel a deep and burning thirst that no drink in this world can satisfy. Knowing this, let us not deceive our hearts by trying to satisfy them with cheap imitations!
In his homily during the Mass, the Pope again highlighted the importance of the Eucharist, as ‘the sacrament of the Lord’s total gift of himself to us.’
It is Christ, the Risen One, he said, ‘who transforms our lives and enlightens our affections, desires and thoughts.’
‘We are not made for a life where everything is taken for granted and static, but for an existence that is constantly renewed through the gift of self in love,’ he said.
Much like a field of flowers, where each small, delicate stem may dry out, become bent and crushed, he said, each flower is ‘immediately replaced by others that sprout up after them, generously nourished and fertilised by the first ones as they decay on the ground. This is how the field survives: through constant regeneration.’
‘This is why we continually aspire to something “more” that no created reality can give us; we feel a deep and burning thirst that no drink in this world can satisfy,’ he said. ‘Knowing this, let us not deceive our hearts by trying to satisfy them with cheap imitations!’
Pope Leo urged the young people to listen to that yearning and ‘turn this thirst into a step stool, like children who stand on tiptoe, in order to peer through the window of encounter with God,’ who has been ‘waiting for us, knocking gently on the window of our soul’.
‘It is truly beautiful, especially at a young age, to open wide your hearts, to allow him to enter, and to set out on this adventure with him towards eternity,’ he said.
Cultivating a friendship with Christ
Speaking briefly in English, the Pope said, ‘There is a burning question in our hearts, a need for truth that we cannot ignore, which leads us to ask ourselves: What is true happiness? What is the true meaning of life? What can free us from being trapped in meaninglessness, boredom and mediocrity?’
‘Buying, hoarding and consuming are not enough,’ he said. The fullness of existence ‘has to do with what we joyfully welcome and share’.
‘We need to lift our eyes, to look upwards, to the “things that are above”, to realise that everything in the world has meaning only insofar as it serves to unite us to God and to our brothers and sisters in charity, helping us to grow in “compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience,” forgiveness and peace, all in imitation of Christ,’ he said.
To know that I’m not alone in my faith, and to know that there are others from around the world who were also there to be with Jesus.
Evoking St John Paul II’s words during the 15th World Youth Day prayer vigil held in the same spot 25 years ago, Pope Leo reminded the young people that ‘Jesus is our hope.’
‘Let us remain united to him, let us remain in his friendship, always, cultivating it through prayer, adoration, Eucharistic communion, frequent confession and generous charity, following the examples of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and Blessed Carlo Acutis, who will soon be declared saints,’ he said.
Wishing everyone ‘a good trip home’, he encouraged the young people to ‘continue to walk joyfully in the footsteps of the Saviour, and spread your enthusiasm and the witness of your faith to everyone you meet!’
Fr Jude Johnson has been travelling with the group from Melbourne and shared how the experience has changed how he views his ministry.
‘As a priest and chaplain, this Jubilee filled me with deep hope. I witnessed young hearts burning with love for God—fully engaged in the liturgy, open in prayer, and bold in sharing their “God moments”. Their faith wasn’t just spoken; it was alive. And that kind of faith is contagious.
‘But this pilgrimage didn’t just form them; it transformed me. It’s reshaped how I minister, listen and walk with our youth. It reminded me that joy, faith and friendship are not extras in the spiritual life—they are essentials. We came as a group of pilgrims; we leave as lifelong companions in faith.‘
Witnessing the sheer number of young people present throughout the week and for the final Mass was also a highlight for Faith, and something she says she will continue to hold dear.
‘To know that I’m not alone in my faith, and to know that there are others from around the world who were also there to be with Jesus,’ was inspiring, she says. ‘And seeing with my own eyes that the Church is not only alive, but thriving.’
Banner image: Melbourne pilgrims at the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran. (Photo supplied.)
