His Holiness Pope Francis thanked the thousands of young WYD volunteers for their generosity, and invited them to bear witness to their experience with simple, ordinary gestures. The 20,000 local Panamanians and 2,200-plus international volunteers spent the week lending a helping hand to the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims present for World Youth Day. To express his gratitude, His Holiness Pope Francis held a special meeting with around 15,000 of them in Rommel Fernandez Stadium.
As reported by Vatican news, “Put service and mission first, and you will see that everything else will follow,” the Pontiff told the volunteers. He said that, in their interactions with others during WYD, the volunteers had experienced how faith “becomes more alive, dynamic, and real.” His Holiness Pope Francis reminded that “We experience a different kind of joy from having had the opportunity to work side by side with others in achieving a shared dream.”
“Thank you all”, said the Pontiff, for paying attention to the smallest details, no matter how ordinary or apparently insignificant. The Pope said prayer had helped the volunteers to feel events more profoundly and had given their actions vitality. “In praying, we open everything we do to the Church that supports and accompanies us from heaven, to the saints who have shown us the way, but above all, we open it all to God.”
