VATICAN (CNS): “Because of the current health situation and its consequences on the movement and gatherings of young people and families,” the World Meeting of Families in Rome will be pushed back until June 2022 and World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, will be pushed back until August 2023, the Vatican announced on April 20.
Pope Francis agreed with a recommendation by the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life on the postponements.
Kevin Cardinal Farrell, prefect of the dicastery, said that now would normally be the time his office would be signing contracts with hotels and airlines if the World Meeting of Families were still to be held in 2021, “but no one knows what will happen,” so it seemed prudent to push the meeting back a year.
The cardinal explained that the dicastery also would not hold two large gatherings during the same summer, so that was one reason World Youth Day was pushed back. The other reason is that, although people are talking about “returning to normal” and government leaders are making plans for phasing out lockdowns and reopening businesses, “we do not believe travel will be that extensive” anytime soon.
The dicastery canceled all international meetings until January 2021, although it is planning for a few young people from Panama, where World Youth Day was celebrated in 2019, to hand the World Youth Day cross to a few young people from Lisbon on November 22, the feast of Christ the King. The handoff originally was scheduled for April 5, Palm Sunday.
