World Youth Day Lisbon 2023 and Where the Church is Going

I truly believe that through all the ages of the world thus far I think the amount of times that you could stand in a crowd of a million and a half are few and far between. Seeing it is staggering. If you have just the right place in just the right topography, you can look out over a sea of people—great waves of moving bodies—and see for a mile and a half, and at the end of that mile and a half you’ll still see that same sea of people stretching out to the horizon. If there are ten things that are staggering in this life, that’s at least two of them. Now suppose you had this multitude all kneeling towards one monstrance with the Lord Jesus Christ inside in the form of bread. Now this—there are no words for this.

As it would happen and as the reader may well have surmised, I was lucky enough to be one of this mass of people at World Youth Day Lisbon through the help of our very own BC Campus Ministry. While I was at the Papal Mass which happened on the last day, I thought to myself, “This is going to make a great Torch article.” Thus, the following is what I learned from World Youth Day about the Church presently and where it seems the Church is going.

1. The Holy Father

The first thing that truly struck me was the persistence of the eternal love of Catholics for their spiritual father. Without a doubt, Pope Francis was well-loved by the pilgrims at World Youth Day. When he spoke, everyone listened, whether or not they understood the Spanish he was speaking. Great throngs would press up against the gates when he passed by in the PopeMobile. When he stopped to bless babies, there were nigh on three-quarter million ladies who would say “aw.” I heard someone near me say, “I just want to hug him.”

Now the Holy Father himself looked worn. When he was greeting the faithful or preaching at Mass, he would muster his strength to speak clearly (I’m fairly sure, I was one of those who listened and didn’t understand Spanish) but when someone else was speaking, and the camera, unbeknownst to him, would pan to him, sitting in the ambo, you could see that he looked exhausted.

2. The Question of European Catholicism

You will very often hear people talk about European Catholicism, that the churches are empty, that the youth don’t care, and that in twenty years with the white-haired remnant who still attend Mass passed on to their reward, no one north of the Mediterranean will attend Mass. As such I was very interested to see what European Catholicism looked like in practice. While I observed many Europeans at World Youth Day—roving bands of Frenchmen in their “Where’s Waldo”-style sweaters and ever-singing Italians—the best view I had was actually at Magis the week before where I spent a number of days in a retreat house about an hour north of Lisbon proper with French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese pilgrims.

I’m sure there are many lapsed-Catholic Europeans who came to have a good time and attend Christmas Mass because that’s just how their culture works, but at this retreat house, I met truly devoted Europeans, good-hearted people who love God, albeit in a private way. Although it seems to me that for Americans, religion isn’t something you would talk openly about with any frequency, it is very much more so for those in Europe, even at the world convocation of young Catholics. I became friends with one of the most gregarious men I have ever met, an Italian by the name of Daniele, only to discover a good while into knowing him that he was joining the seminary in the weeks to come.

3. The Church in Asia

I was at Adoration one day with a group, half of whom were American, the other half composed of Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Japanese pilgrims. It was a Holy Hour, but there was no obligation to be present for anything more than the exposition and benediction. About forty-five minutes in, when almost everyone else had left, the three Chinese pilgrims were still there, two of them still kneeling, the third quietly prostrate in front of the Sacrament who, when she rose up to look at the Eucharist, had tears of love in her eyes.

Now as it would happen, these were the same Chinese pilgrims who could not fly their flag, because if the government were to find out that they had been there, they would have been punished. It was the first time I have ever seen what the persecuted church looks like, to see them was to see the early church alongside the current church, which was fitting there in front of the Most Holy Sacrament, in which all Christ’s mystical body is joined.

Seeing this I wondered if the revival of the Church will not come from Europe, America, or even Africa, but from China, and the sacrifice of the Chinese faithful in both white and red martyrdom.

4. Directions in the Church

There were a few key occurrences that struck me as indicative as to the direction the Church will take in the coming years. For one, liturgies at and around World Youth Day often featured Latin, in either the Gloria, Agnus Dei, Hymns, or even the Mass itself. I arrived at Fatima as part of my pilgrimage just in time to catch the priest saying the consecration in Latin, “Hoc est enim corpus meum.” An American told me one night, “We have a universal language in the Church, if there’s anywhere to use it, it’s here.”

Now this is not to say that there was the Traditional Latin Mass at World Youth Day, in fact, I hardly heard a word about it. What I heard about from pilgrims from multiple continents was their desire for reverence at Mass and the importance of seeing visible Catholicism. Standing with one Italian before Adoration one day, he said to me that he believed that it is very important for priests to wear the cassock because it shows the world that there’s something different about this person, something from God. The programming at World Youth Day also addressed hot-button issues, featuring a woman speaking about her regret over having an abortion in her early life, and the freedom and forgiveness she found afterwards.

In sum, World Youth Day gave the rare chance of seeing the Universal Church in a very universal way. If I were to make a prediction as to where the Church is going I would distill it down to a few key points: first, that the Church in Europe will have to diminish before it gets its feet under it to grow again. Second, that the Church in Asia will grow, third, that liturgy will move away from the 1970’s gospel preacher style to a greater focus on the Eucharistic. And last, that, should the Church continue to increase her focus on the Eucharist and Marian Devotion, the young people will not leave as did the generation before.