At the meeting of diocesan secretaries that was held in Fatima, the director of the national department for the youth pastoral service (Dnpj) announced that the forthcoming World Youth Day in Cracow will be attended by “at least five thousand young Portuguese”. The meeting dealt with the logistics of the journey (transport, security, food) but above all it helped with the cultural and spiritual dimensions of the event. “A fraternal environment must be built and experienced; faith makes us meet other people and plan our future with them, sowing our journey with hope”, father Edoardo Novo stated. “We get closer, we open up to each other, we build communities and we feel like a family, that’s why registration in the WYD is not personal, it takes place through the parish and its diocesan Secretariat, in other words through a mini-group that is, in turn, part of the macro-group of the Portuguese Bishops Conference”, added the director of Dnpj, speaking of the key issue of the WYD, “Blessed are the merciful because they will be shown mercy”. The director of the youth service of the patriarchate of Lisbon, Cláudia Lorenço, said that there are currently over 600 confirmed registrations in the capital already, but even those young people who will organise their journey themselves are in touch with the Secretariat and will join the Portuguese group.