Annual Themes
The Global Celebration of Young People is an annual opportunity for the Catholic Church to reflect on, acknowledge, and celebrate youth and young adults in their local communities, in solidarity with communities in every country and on every continent.
This celebration exists in tandem with World Youth Day, which takes place internationally every 2-3 years in a different country where young people come together, with the Holy Father and millions of youth and young adults around the globe, to pray, learn, serve, and celebrate their shared Catholic Christian faith in Jesus Christ and his Gospel.
Each year, the Church follows a path laid out in advance through themes inspired by the Scriptures to prepare young people for the journey.
For this forthcoming cycle (2019-2023), the Holy Father has given the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a model missionary disciple. Inspired by Christus Vivit, the model for young people is that of a young person moving towards their vocational mission with pastoral action.
- 34th World Youth Day, 2019-2020: "I am the servant of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38).
- 35th World Youth Day, 2020-2021: "Young man, I say to you, arise!" (Lk 7:14).
- 36th World Youth Day, 2021-2022: "Stand up. I appoint you as a witness of what you have seen" (cf. Acts 26:16).
- 37th World Youth Day, 2022-2023: "Mary arose and went with haste" (Lk 1:39).
Please note that the themes BEGIN now around Christ the King Sunday extend through the year that follows. This is a different schedule of theme development than what has been done in past years. Thank you for your adaptability.