“In the first week of August, tens of thousands of young people from almost 200 dioceses across Italy will be travelling on foot, discovering the pilgrim ways of their homeland, before finally reaching Rome on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 August”. This was announced by the National Social Communications Office of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) in a statement released this morning which also details the programme for the two-day event: “The Circus Maximus (Saturday 11, afternoon) and Saint Peter’s Square (Sunday 12, morning) are expected to welcome some 50,000 young people accompanied by over 100 bishops. On Saturday, 11 August, the Holy Father will meet young people at the Circus Maximus from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. On Sunday, 12 August, CEI President Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti will preside over the celebration of Mass in St Peter’s Square at 9.30am. Pope Francis will join the pilgrims again at 11am, entrusting them with a missionary mandate and blessing the gifts that the Italian youth will take to WYD in Panama (January 2019): the Crucifix of St Damian and Our Lady of Loreto. After the Angelus prayer and the Holy Father’s blessing, the pilgrims will return to their dioceses”. The details of the programme will be presented at a press conference in the Marconi Hall of the Palazzo Pio (Piazza Pia, 3) in Rome on Tuesday, 7 August, at noon. For more information, please visit the website www.giovani.chiesacattolica.it.