World Youth Day

The Pope invites young people from all over the world to attend and celebrate together at World Youth Day (WYD). WYD is six days of fun, prayer, catechetical sessions, informal gatherings, and festival events plus a vigil and concluding mass with the Pope. This gathering is held every three years at an international location.

The next international World Youth Day will be held in Lisbon, Portugal 2023!  The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland pilgrimage package for WYD Portugal 2023 will be arranged by the Office of Young Adult Ministry. Those details will be set soon after the dates for WYD Portugal 2023 are announced. For those interested in attending WYD Portugal 2023, please contact Mike Hayes, Director of Young Adult Ministry.

Some early directives:

• All participants must be at least 18 years of age and no more than 35 years old by July 1, 2023 to attend. For parishes wishing to take younger members, we remind you that World Youth Day is intended for people in their 20s and 30s and not teens. That said, we are not prohibiting you from taking younger members to World Youth Day, but you would need to be solely responsible for your teens and travel separately from our diocesan delegation.
• Two packages will be offered for World Youth Day:
  • Package one: Attend World Youth Day and see the Fatima Shrine (roughly 8-10 days).
  • Package two: Attend World Youth Day and hike the Portuguese Camino (Pilgrimage route) (roughly 13-15 days).

Our tour partner, Franciscan Spirit Tours will be providing details on these packages in June 2021.