In Assisi, Pope to encourage young people to dream "great things"

Pope Leo XIV’s pastoral visit to the Italian town of Assisi on Thursday, 6 August, will conclude four days of encounters, workshops and opportunities for young people to share their experiences. The Pope will answer their questions and preside over Mass, inviting them, as he did a year ago during the Jubilee of Youth at Tor Vergata, not to settle for a mediocre life.

Those involved in the pastoral care of young people - such as Friar Luca de Pasquale, one of the organisers of the “GO! Franciscan Youth Meeting”, which will bring thousands of Europeans aged between 18 and 33 to the city of Saint Francis from the 3rd to the 6th of August - that many of them often desire nothing and have already stopped dreaming.

The 38-year-old Friar Minor told to Vatican News how important it is to hear from someone like the Pope, who is able to speak to them about the fullness of life. He also speaks of the value of looking to a model of “holy restlessness” such as Saint Francis, who can speak to today’s young people as though he were their contemporary.

The Holy Father will arrive quite early on the morning of 6 August, at 8:30, and everything will take place at Saint Mary of the Angels, in the Basilica that houses the little Porziuncola chapel, which Francis of Assisi restored, where he lived, founded the Order of Friars Minor and died. It is a key place for our family and also for the 800th anniversary of Francis’ “Transitus”, which we are celebrating this year.

The Pope will spend a brief moment in personal prayer inside the Porziuncola. He will then go out into the square, where, before the crowd, which is unable to enter the Basilica because of capacity restrictions, he will listen to three young people from different parts of Europe, who will put three questions to him on three different subjects.

The Pope will then meet privately with the Franciscan families. Afterwards, at around 10 or 10:30, he will preside over Mass. It will also be the Solemnity of the Transfiguration of the Lord