From July 28 to August 3, 2025. Young people are invited to meet and live the experience of the Jubilee together. The four paths that lead to the Jubilee of Hope.

In recent months, Pope Francis has spoken out several times, inviting young people to believe in hope. The “hope that does not disappoint” with these words the Pope announced the Jubilee, urging young people not to be influenced by “pessimism” and “scepticism”.

The Pope urges the new generations to be bearers of the “beauty and novelty of life”, converting differences into “the ability to listen” and aspiring to higher ideals than the “quicksand of enmity”. “Evil, pessimism, scepticism will not have the last word”.

Francis does not hide the difficulties that young people will encounter on their journey. “Do not be afraid!”, “Do not be afraid either to go through conflicts”, he adds, asking them to have the patience to see them transformed into “recognition of the other” and “mutual growth”.

Divergences are compared to a labyrinth, to escape from which it is necessary to be “in the company of another who helps us” and always “from above”, “so that life is not a labyrinthine circle, which kills youth”.

The Pope does not even hide the sadness in him aroused by observing young people who “live in superficiality”, avoiding “going
through conflicts”.

“Trying to overcome them is the sign that we have aimed higher, higher than our particular interests, to get out of the quicksand of enmity”.

A feeling that Francis asks to promote through “active participation” in dialogue with institutions, “networking” – “but also by making noise. It is very important” – between the different realities inspired
by “solidarity” and “inclusion”.

“In this task, I invite you to be the voice of all, especially of those who have no voice. And today there are so many people who have no voice, so many who are excluded, not only socially, due to problems of poverty, lack of education, drug dictatorship… but also of those who do not know how to dream. Network to dream, and do not lose this ability. Dream…”

“Dear young people, one of the most important things is to walk…”. These were the opening words of the video message that Pope Francis had recorded for all the young people of the world as part of the work of the second session of the Synod on Synodality.

To encourage young people to move forward, the Pontiff uses the metaphor of water. “When a young person walks, everything is fine, but when a young person stops… it is like water. When the water walks, it is fine, but when the water stops… it ends badly, it is ugly with so many ‘beasts’ (little animals) inside”.

“Tired water is the first to be corrupted. The tired young person is the first to be corrupted,” Pope Francis also affirmed. “Forward, always walk. Look forward with courage and joy.” From here, the usual request: “I greet you. Pray for me.”

In his latest message for World Youth Day, the Pope highlights four paths that lead to the Jubilee of Hope.

The pilgrimage of life and its challenges. The Pope writes: “Our life is a pilgrimage, a journey that pushes us beyond ourselves, a journey in search of happiness; and Christian life, in particular, is a pilgrimage toward God, our salvation and the fullness of every good.

However, it is normal that, even though we begin our journeys with enthusiasm, sooner or later we begin to feel tired… The solution to tiredness, paradoxically, is not to stay still to rest. It is rather to set out and become pilgrims of hope. This is my invitation to you: walk in hope!

Pilgrims in the desert. Francis emphasizes: “In the pilgrimage of life there will inevitably be challenges to face. In ancient times, on longer pilgrimages, one had to face the changing seasons and the changing climate; cross pleasant meadows and cool woods, but also snow-capped mountains and scorching deserts. So, even for those who are believers, the pilgrimage of life and the journey toward a distant destination remain tiring, as was the journey through the desert toward the Promised Land for the people of Israel.”

“Moments of crisis, which make life seem like a difficult journey through the desert. These times of crisis, however, are not lost or useless times, but can reveal themselves as important opportunities for growth. They are moments of purification of hope.”

In these moments, the Lord does not abandon us; he draws near with his fatherhood and always gives us the bread that reinvigorates our strength and sets us back on the path. Let us remember that he gave manna to the people in the desert (see Exodus 16) and that he twice offered a cake and water to the prophet Elijah, tired and discouraged, so that he could walk for “forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb” (see 1 Kings 19:3-8).

From tourists to pilgrims. The Pope invites: “Your walking should not simply be passing through the places of life in a superficial way, without grasping the beauty of what you encounter, without discovering the meaning of the roads travelled, capturing brief moments, fleeting experiences to fix in a selfie. The tourist does this. The pilgrim instead immerses himself with all his being in the places he encounters, makes them speak, and makes them become part of his search for happiness. The Jubilee pilgrimage, then, wants to become the sign of the interior journey that we are all called to undertake, to reach the final destination.

Pilgrims of hope for the mission. The Pope exhorts: “In this upcoming Holy Year of Hope, I invite all of you to experience the embrace of a merciful God, to experience his forgiveness, the remission of all our “interior debts”, as was the tradition in biblical jubilees. And so, welcomed by God and reborn in Him, you too become open arms for many of your friends and peers who need to feel, through your welcome, the love of God the Father. May each of you give “even just a smile, a gesture of friendship, a fraternal look, sincere listening, a free service, knowing that, in the Spirit of Jesus, this can become for those who receive it a fruitful seed of hope” (ibid., 18), and thus become tireless missionaries of joy.” (Open Photo: 123rf)

Francis Mutesa