World Youth Day 1984

World Youth Day 1984 was an international meeting promoted by Pope John Paul II at the extraordinary Holy Year of the Redemption. It was the first large youth gathering promoted by the Catholic Church.[1] From that experience came the idea of the World Youth Days which since then have been held, every two or three years, in different countries of the world.

World Youth Day 1984
DateApril 14, 1984 (1984-04-14) – April 15, 1984 (1984-04-15)
LocationVatican City
TypeYouth festival
ThemeAperite portas Redemptoris
Organised byCatholic Church
ParticipantsPope John Paul II
Next1985 Rome

The meeting with the Pope took place in Rome on Saturday, April 14, 1984 before Palm Sunday. The young people found themselves in the morning in the square in front of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran for mass, then a long procession went to St. Peter's Square in the Vatican where the meeting took place with the Pope who, for the occasion, was accompanied on stage created on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica by Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

About 300,000 people attended the meeting, mostly Italians, but with a significant presence of young people coming from abroad.[2][3] Pope John Paul II concluded the Youth Jubilee during the Angelus of Palm Sunday.[4] The next day, the Pope concluded the Jubilee of the Youth with the Angelus on Palm Sunday.

The following week, on Easter Sunday, April 22, 1984, the Pope gave the youth the Cross of the World Youth Day as a symbol of "the love of the Lord Jesus for humanity and as an announcement that only in Christ died and resurrected it is salvation and redemption." On this occasion he renewed the appointment for a meeting with the young people for Palm Sunday next, March 31, 1985, in the year that the UN proclaimed International Year of Youth.[5]

References
  1. "JMJ 2005 - La peregrinación de la Cruz de los Jóvenes (1984-2014)". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  2. "Sito web ufficiale della XX GMG 2005: Storia delle Giornate Mondiali della Gioventù". 11 December 2007. Archived from the original on 11 December 2007. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  3. There were 400,000 participants according to the newspaper Avvenire (source ANSA, in Pino Vicentini, The Revolution in a Day, in Avvenire, Friday 11 August 2000.)
  4. "Angelus, 15 aprile 1984, Domenica delle Palme - Giovanni Paolo II". w2.vatican.va. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  5. "Ai giovani (22 aprile 1984) - Giovanni Paolo II". w2.vatican.va. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
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