Pope Leo XIV answered questions from and spoke with U.S. youth for the first time digitally during the 2025 National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC). Watch and read more about his visit:
In the United States, "youth" are defined as those young people ages 12-18 in junior high school and high school. They are also known as "adolescents" or "teens." Youth are emerging leaders and protagonists in the Church and within their communities, schools, and society at large.
Youth Ministry
A USCCB National Pastoral Framework for Ministries with Youth and Young Adults entitled Listen, Teach, Send (available here) serves as the primary guide for the Catholic approach to young people (including teens and young adults). Inspired and responding to Pope Francis's apostolic exhortation Christus Vivit, it is also a summons for local parishes and faith communities to renew and revitalize their accompaniment and evangelization of younger generations.
"In his first letter, St. Peter tells us to give all our worries to Jesus because he cares for us. Jesus does not just understand our struggles from a distance. He actually wants us to hand them to him because he loves us. And that kind of trust starts when we have a real relationship.
We cannot give our problems to someone who we barely know. Think of your closest friends, for example. If they were hurting, you would talk to them. You would listen to them. You would stay close. Our relationship with Jesus is similar. He knows when life feels heavy. And Scripture reminds us that he is near to the brokenhearted.
Even when we do not feel his presence, our faith tells us that he is there. To entrust our struggles to Jesus, we have to spend time with him in prayer. We have to have a relationship with him. In quiet, we can speak honestly about what is in our hearts. During Eucharistic adoration, you can look at Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and know that he looks at you — and he looks at you with love.
He often speaks to us gently in stillness. That is why daily moments of silence are so important. Whether through adoration, reading Scripture, talking to him, looking for those little spaces of time where we can be with him, little by little, we learn to hear his voice to feel his presence both within and through the people that he sends to us.
Giving our problems to Jesus is something we can do, we need to do, again and again. Each morning, we can invite him to be with us during the day. Each night we can talk with him about our day. And remember also Mary, the mother of Jesus and our mother. She understands what we go through, and she prays for us.
There’s a powerful way to ask for help, her help, and that’s praying the Rosary. Through her intercession and with all the saints praying for us, we can confidently place everything in God’s hands, knowing that he always hears us. He’s always with us."
Pope Leo XIV, Digital Encounter with US Teens at NCYC 2025
Pope Francis launched a synod process in October 2016, seeking to provide a Catholic response to the reality of young people in connection to faith, the community of the Church, and each one’s vocational calling. That journey continued through to the Synod of Bishops in October 2018 and the subsequent release of Christus Vivit, Pope Francis' post-synodal apostolic exhortation, in April 2019. In Christus Vivit, Pope Francis writes “to young people and to the entire people of God.”
We recommend visiting our online guide for Christus Vivit page for resources related to discussing and implementing Christus Vivit.
Renewing the Vision: A Framework for Catholic Youth Ministry builds on the fine tradition begun by the 1976 document, A Vision of Youth Ministry. To respond to the new challenges and opportunities of our day the Catholic bishops of the United States offer this document as a blueprint for the continued development of effective ministry with young and older adolescents.
Pope John Paul II announced the institution of World Youth Day in December, 1985, as an annual gathering of jóvenes, between the ages of 16 and 35, for prayer, worship and celebration of the Catholic faith. The event is observed annually in dioceses and every two to three years at an international gathering.
World Youth Day