World Youth Day Portugal 2023

Pope Francis asked the 1.5 million young people who attended World Youth Day to take “what God has sown into your hearts” back to their home countries and build a joyful church that is open to all.

After a five-day trip to Portugal, which recently came to terms with its own clerical sex abuse crisis, Pope Francis said the Catholic Church must abandon its practice of covering up abuse and instead be “very open” about how it is confronting the crime.

When feelings of suffering, anxiety and loneliness bring young people to tears, Jesus cries with them and walks alongside them on the way of the cross, Pope Francis said.

While Pope Francis was visiting Portugal for World Youth Day, talk of future papal trips — including to Kosovo and Argentina — was making headlines as were some of his thoughts about the need for the Catholic Church to be open to all.