According to the bishop, who presided at Fatima Parish, in Luanda, the mass to send the symbols of WYD Lisbon 2023, Christians in Angola experienced intense moments of joy with the presence of the Pilgrim Cross and the icon of Our Lady Salus Populi Romani.
The Catholic prelate celebrated the Mass as president of the Episcopal Commission for Youth of the Bishops' Conference of Angola and São Tomé (CEAST).
The president of the National Secretariat of Youth Ministry in Angola, Fernando Kawendimba, spoke of "very strong testimonies" that "translate the certainty that faith in Christ, belief and faith in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and in Our Lady are rekindled.
"And the youth vibrate witnessing that with the Diocesan Youth Days that have been held over the weekend in some dioceses, in fact it makes perfect sense that we welcome the presence of these symbols," he said in statements to the press.
In more than a month of pilgrimage, the symbols of WYD Lisbon 2023, which passed through the Angolan dioceses of Sumbe, Benguela, Huambo, Bié, Menongue, Lubango, Viana, Caxito and the Major Seminary of Luanda, arrived in Angola last July 8 and returned this Tuesday to Lisbon.
The mass to receive the symbols was presided by the Archbishop of Luanda and president of CEAST, Archbishop Filomeno do Nascimento Vieira Dias, and the mass to send them off was presided by the Bishop of Cabinda, Belmiro Chissengueti.
Before the sending Mass, a gospel music show was held in the courtyard of the parish of Fatima, in the capital, with the musician Miguel Buila as the headliner.
After the pilgrimage to Angola, and before visiting all the Portuguese dioceses, the symbols will travel to Spain (in September and October of this year) and Poland (on a date yet to be announced).
In 2022, between August 4 and 7, the cross and the icon of Our Lady Salus Populi Romani will return to Spain for the European Youth Pilgrimage in Santiago de Compostela.
Traditionally, in the months leading up to each WYD, "the symbols go on pilgrimage to proclaim the Gospel and accompany young people, in a special way, in the realities in which they live," adds a note about the initiative.
With a height of 3.8 meters, the Pilgrim Cross, built for the Holy Year in 1983, was entrusted by John Paul II to young people on Palm Sunday of the following year, to be taken around the world. Since then, the pilgrim cross, made of wood, has begun a pilgrimage that has taken it to almost 90 countries.
The Lisbon 2023 World Youth Day, for which more than a million young people from all over the world are expected, will take place on the grounds of the Tagus river bank, north of Parque das Nações, and is expected to be closed by the Pope.
Originally scheduled for the summer of 2022, the initiative was postponed a year due to the covid-19 pandemic.
