With preparations ramping up for the upcoming World Youth Day (WYD) in Lisbon, Portugal, next summer, participants can expect an interreligious and ecumenical focus, said the Canadian coordinator for the event.

VATICAN CITY – Young men and women can live a true experience of the church by joining together and reconnecting with the past, Pope Francis told Catholic young people.

VATICAN CITY – Archbishop José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta of Panama officially announced the dates of the next World Youth Day on Friday (Jan. 20), which is set to take place in January, rather than July as is usual, due to the weather.

This trip has been two years in the making. I can’t help but think back to when I first decided that I wanted to go on this pilgrimage.

The World Youth Day pilgrimage begins at the local level.

With less than six months before young Canadians leave for Krakow, Poland, this July, youth ministry groups are hard at it preparing their pilgrims for spiritual formation.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis asked the world������Ƶapp young Catholics to perform spiritual and corporal works of mercy every month in the run-up to World Youth Day next July.

Registration is now open for World Youth Day 2016 and Canadian pilgrims are beginning to mobilize. Individuals, groups of friends, parishes and archdioceses are all preparing for their trip to Krakow, Poland, next summer.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis was the first pilgrim to sign up for World Youth Day to be held in Krakow, Poland, launching the opening of registration.

VATICAN CITY - The official logo and prayer for World Youth Day 2016 were unveiled in the event's host city -- Krakow, Poland -- by the city's archbishop, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz.

It is both proper and gratifying to see the success of World Youth Day in Rio as a massive, marvelous “yes” to Christian faith.