Pope Leo’s video message for the second “Rejoice” Meeting – National Youth Day
[Lamego (Portugal), 24 to 26 July 2026]
In Illo uno unum: “The many who are one body in Christ” (Romans12:5).
Dear young people,
“Rejoice in the Lord always!” (Philippians 4:4),
Rejoice in the Lord in Lamego, and everywhere: in your families, in schools, in parishes, in movements and in the various youth groups.
Rejoice with your bishops and leaders who accompany you, you and many other young people in Portugal.
Rejoice with those, who help you to grow in faith and open the doors of your heart to Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life.
I was pleased to learn that you are trying to keep the flame of World Youth Day 2023 alive.
Those were splendid and happy days, marked by concord among all, for the harmony between different languages and cultures; but, above all, harmony between different languages and cultures, and, above all, an intense encounter with the Lord Jesus and the experience of the wonders that the Living Christ works when we gather in his name.
He is with us and he is the reason for our joy!
He is the cause of our unity.
I was able to relive what I experienced in Lisbon a year ago at the Jubilee, as well as recently during the Apostolic Journey to Spain.
Being with young people is always special because their enthusiasm for faith is contagious!
The love you show for Christ is comforting.
In our day, it is wonderful to see young people like you! — full of faith and unafraid to proclaim it.
It’s beautiful to see your deep thirst for truth and your sincere search for it.
It is beautiful to see that you hunger for justice and charity and are not satisfied with ephemeral values.
It is beautiful to see that you love beauty, especially the beauty of our God, who awaits us in the depths of our innermost being.
I would therefore like to use this greeting to encourage you to move forward. One characteristic of young people is restlessness.
Don’t be afraid of the restlessness within you!
Use it to draw closer to Christ and bear witness to the values of the Gospel.
Firmly anchored in Jesus’s words, I read the Gospel every day.
I never cease to dream of a peaceful and fraternal land, to look at the world with wonder, or to face the future with hope.
Dear young people,
Do not let anything or anyone rob you of hope!
I encourage you to confront your worries so that, during moments of prayer and silence, you can ask God: “Lord, what do you want me to do in the church and in the world?”
What is my vocation?
Do you call me to form a family in marriage?
Or do you call me rather to the priestly life?
Or to religious life?
These are questions that are important to ask, without forgetting a certainty that gives unity to our interior life.
God always calls us to be saints, and saints are profoundly human.
Be human, then, as Christ is, and you will surely change this world for the better.
May Our Lady of Fatima, the Mother of Good Counsel, help you!
Dear friends,
I invoke an abundance of graces from Heaven upon you, all the young people of Portugal, your pastors, and your youth ministry leaders.
May God bless you—Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. [Amen!]
May the Happy Encounter continue in this city of Lamego!
I hope to see you in Seoul in August 2027. Thank you!
