John Paul II will be the patron saint of the WYD

John Paul II will be the patron saint of the WYD

John Paul II, who will be canonised on April 27, will be the patron saint of the world youth day (WYD), where he was initiator and promoter.

Thus the Pope Francisco announced it Thursday in his message for the next WYD, which the Catholic Church celebrates on 13 April, and which was published today by the Vatican.

Francisco adds that the Polish Pope “will remain for you all a father and a friend”.

The message also recalls that this year met the thirtieth anniversary of the delivery of the cross of the Jubilee of redemption to the young, “the symbolic act that Juan Pablo II began the great youth pilgrimage that, since then, continued through the five continents”.