Young symbols of WYD at the top of mainland Portugal. “No one will be left out”
The symbols of the World Youth Day arrived this Sunday at Torre da Estrela, the highest point in mainland Portugal. With snow and very cold, the pilgrimage of around fifty again demonstrates that everyone is invited and that no one will be left out of the reception.
“Do not put [a Cruz ]in the Commission”, asks José Sério, 52, a member of the Guarda Diocesan Organizer (COD), responsible for “very complicated logistics and a lot of responsibility”, assumes, adding the fact that “there is a very serious protocol, and the van have a very specific circulation procedure”, explained at the entrance of the Senhora do Ar chapel, right next to the Tower, at 2,000 meters of altitude.
Tall, but not so tall, at 3.8 meters high, the Pilgrim Cross, built for the Holy Year in 1983, was entrusted by John Paul II to young people on Palm Sunday of the year. In 2022, it reaches the highest point of mainland Portugal, under snow and cold, which did not stop the youthful voices that received with chants the symbols – the pilgrim cross and the icon of Our Lady ‘Salus Populi Romani’.
In the change from the archpriestship of Covilhã/Belmonte to that of Gouveia/Seia, the Via Sacra marked the passage of the symbols of the World Youth Day. For D. Américo Aguiar, auxiliary bishop of Lisbon, who will coordinate the WYD, it is a way of saying that “nobody goes outside”.
“In September we went to the Azores and hoisted the WYD flag at the westernmost point of Europe, on the island of Flores and now we will be at the highest point of mainland Portugal is also symbolic, because it means transcending ourselves, in this desire to extend the invitation everyone, and everyone means going to the top and to the geographic peripheries”, says D. Américo Aguiar, admitting that he has observed an adhesion that exceeds expectations.
And in the next step, D. Américo Aguiar says that “the big thing in this preparation phase has to do with the change with the inscriptions and the public announcement of the patrons of the World Youth Day in Lisbon, which will take place in May, on the anniversary of the World Youth Pope St. John Paul II, 18 May”.
Without hiding their anxiety, Salomé Loureiro, 18, Mariana Saraiva, 19, and Isabel Abrantes, 17, left S. Romão at lunchtime, on Sunday, to go up to the Tower, without the cold and with a greater desire than the Tower, to participate in World Youth Day.
“I can’t explain it in words, it’s a very special feeling”, reveals Salomé Loureiro, who holds the cross for the first time. Mariana Saraiva assumes that this is the third time that she has this privilege. “Our generation is lucky enough to accompany this moment in Portugal. I followed them at the border, in Guarda and now here”, says Mariana. Isabel Abrantes also considers that “it is a unique moment, and we don’t have the opportunity to see this much more often”.
Diocese of Guarda will have a “differentiating role”
For Father Rafael Neves, from the Youth Ministry of the Diocese of Guarda, it would be impossible to activate a Tower outside the pilgrimage of symbols.
“We could not have a pilgrimage of symbols in the diocese without coming to this emblematic place. We are on our way and people are mobilized”, guarantees the priest, in the presence of the Bishop of Guarda.
D. Manuel Felício believes that the Diocese of Guarda plays a differentiating role in JJ. “We are combining everything to play a different role, across the border in Vilar Formoso, we already have an agreement with the local authority, we have a place to receive visitors, which by the way is the Aristides de Sousa Mendes memorial, we are 220 kilometers away raia, but Vilar Formoso is the main gateway”, he highlights.
On Sunday night, chants were still heard in S. Romão and will continue to be heard in the Diocese of Guarda until April 3, and after the symbols have passed through all the archpriests.
In the months leading up to each World Youth Day, the next one will be in Lisbon, from 1 to 6 August 2023, the symbols go on pilgrimage to be heralds of the Gospel and accompany young people.