In his message to the young people who gathered at the 37th International Youth Festival – Mladifest in Medjugorje, Pope Leo XIV urged them to seek the truth that sets them free and not to be seduced by the deceptions of fleeting happiness, inviting them to return to Christ, the source of new life and true joy.
The Pope called on the young people to rediscover the beauty of a personal encounter with the Lord through prayer, listening to the word of God and the sacraments, who, the Pope said, “quenches the thirst of every heart and grants the strength for an ever new beginning”.
In his message to the young, Pope Leo XIV encourages them to entrust themselves to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so that they may become bright witnesses of the good news, promoters of brotherhood and builders of peace in society.
The International Youth Festival – Mladifest, which is being held this year under the motto “Ad fontem!/To the source!”, gathered tens of thousands of young people from all over the world in Medjugorje.
The director of the Mir Medjugorje Information Center, Vedran Vidović, said that this year’s motto was inspired by the celebration of the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi.
“We are returning to the sources of St. Francis because we are in the 800th year since the death of St. Francis. We are inspired in a special way by the beautiful Franciscan spirituality and the entire program will be permeated with this Franciscan spirituality, which is particularly emphasized here in Medjugorje, given that the Franciscans have been serving and welcoming millions of pilgrims from all over the world for years,” said Vidović.
The program, which began on Saturday evening, is being simultaneously translated into 18 world languages.
Accommodation capacities in Medjugorje are almost completely full, the Tourist Board of the Municipality of Čitluk told Fena. The largest number of pilgrims comes from Eastern European countries, Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, France and the Republic of Ireland, while this year there has also been an increase in the number of pilgrims from Spain and Portugal.
The program of the International Youth Festival in Medjugorje will end with a mass on Križevci on Wednesday, August 5 at 5:00 PM.
The Youth Festival has been held since 1989, and this year’s edition is the 37th in a row. Every year it brings together more than 50,000 young people and about 500 priests from all over the world, Fena writes.
