On July 26, 20 pilgrims from the Diocese of San Bernardino arrived in Lisbon, Portugal to begin their two-week pilgrimage for World Youth Day (WYD). From Lisbon, they traveled about three hours to the Diocese of Lamego, their host diocese for the first week of WYD. Once they arrived in the Diocese of Lamego, it began the pilgrims’ “Days in the Diocese” phase of WYD where they stayed with their host families and truly received an array of cultural and religious experiences before they departed back to Lisbon to celebrate WYD from Aug 1-6 with Pope Francis.
“It was very special,” pilgrim Eddie Coronado said. “We fell in love with the city, we fell in love with the people there, especially our host family, [it was] very hard to leave.”
On day two of the pilgrims’ journey, they attended morning prayer at Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral, also called Lamego Cathedral, which began construction in 1159 on an old chapel dedicated to San Sebastian. After prayer, they hiked the 691 steps up to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Remedy, where once they reached the top, sang songs to the Blessed Mother. Their second day was also filled with getting to know their other fellow pilgrims, taking a tour of the Museum of Lamego, and attending their first Portuguese Mass with the Bishop of Lamego.
“It’s amazing to see the Body of Christ together and that we can still understand each other even though we speak different languages,” pilgrim and Diocesan Young Adult Ministry Coordinator Guadalupe Rosales said. “I think the biggest thing is just the love and excitement to be here, even with our host families, being able to communicate with them, even though we don’t speak the same languages. It’s very beautiful.”
On day three of the pilgrimage, they went to provide community service to a senior center and orphanage. The pilgrims split their group in half, with one half going to the senior center to spend time with and play Bocce ball, an Italian bowling game, with the seniors and the other half of the group went to a local orphanage to visit and play games with the children. The pilgrims ended day three doing the Stations of the Cross at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Remedy.
Day four of the Days in the Diocese was filled with singing, dancing and celebration as the pilgrims enjoyed a concert in the park in the City of Lapa with all the parishes in the Diocese of Lamego coming together for the first time. The celebrations continued into the night where they had more music, traditional Portuguese dancing, fire-dance performers, and fireworks.
On Sunday July 30, the pilgrims went to mass with their host families and afterwards some pilgrims had a group breakfast and others went to eat at the homes of their host family.
“We’re here in Lamego, the last day we’re going to visit our host family,” pilgrim Carlos Casas said about his host, Mariana, on their way to go to her aunt’s house for lunch. “They’ve been really sweet; they’ve been a great host and we couldn’t ask for a better host to take both me and Scotty in.”
On their last day in the diocese, the pilgrims attended an outdoor closing Mass together. Then, they thanked and said goodbye to their host families and departed for Lisbon, Portugal.
“My experience over the last five days in Lamego has been a lot more than I think I even expected,” pilgrim Malina Herb said. “I didn’t expect to become so close to my host family. It was very emotional saying goodbye. When we first got to Lamego and were greeted by everyone, I was very overwhelmed by all of the love… I don’t think there’s enough words to really express what they’ve done for us and how they impacted our lives. And I know when we left that we truly have impacted their lives.”
Pilgrim Joseph also expressed the difficulty with saying goodbye to his host family.
“First started off, I was very timid, I was very scared, in terms of not knowing what to expect and as the days went on, our host family started treating us like we were their own kids,” Joseph said. “They really taught us how to love one another and to show God’s love to each other. Just to complete strangers, they let us into their home, they let us meet their family and have dinner and talk with them. It truly was an amazing experience, and it was very hard to say goodbye. But it was more of a ‘see you later’ because we will be back, I assure that.”
Then from August 1- 6, the pilgrims spent their time in Lisbon, the location of WYD. During that week, the pilgrims enjoyed a “reception and allocation of the pilgrims,” an opening Mass presided by the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, Manuel Clemente, welcoming ceremony for Pope Francis, Way of the Cross with Pope Francis, pilgrimage to Tejo Park for an evening vigil with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and prayer with Pope Francis and concluded their pilgrimage with a Missioning Mass celebrated by the Holy Father to end WYD Lisbon 2023.
Elena Macias is the Managing Editor of the Inland Catholic BYTE.