World Youth Day 1985

World Youth Day 1985 was a meeting on the occasion of the International Youth Year held in Rome on March 30th and 31st 1985[1]and it was the second great international meeting promoted by the Catholic Church and later named World Youth Day. This was considered the birth of these events, which would begin to be called of this way on the next year.[2]

World Youth Day 1985

Date	March 30, 1985 (1985-03-30) – March 31, 1985 (1985-03-31)
Location	Rome, Italy
Type	Youth festival
Theme	Christus pax nostra
Organised by	Catholic Church
Participants	Pope John Paul II
Previous	1984 Youth Jubilee
Next	1987 Buenos Aires

After the Youth Jubilee celebrated in Rome the year before on the occasion of the Holy Year, Pope John Paul II organized a youth gathering for Palm Sunday in 1985[3] coinciding with the International Youth Year proclaimed by the UN.[4][5]

Before the event

Before the young people arrived in Rome, the Pope issued on December 8, 1984, a message for the World Day of Peace devoted to the young. Then John Paul II invited the youth to Palm Sunday to Rome for the World Youth Meeting. The Pope chose Palm Sunday as the date of the meeting because in the previous year, just on Palm Sunday, the Catholic Church celebrated the Jubilee of the Youth, celebrated on the occasion of the Holy Year 1983/1984 (1950 anniversary of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ).

The program

Saturday 30 March

The Pope met the young Catholics for the first time in Archbasilica of St. John Lateran at 5:00 pm. The slogan of this great meeting were the words: May you know how to realize the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15).

During this meeting the apostolic letter "To the young people of the world"[6], written by the Pope for the occasion, was presented firstly to those present. During the following night, there was the possibility for young people to watch in eucharistic adoration at some churches in the city.[7]

Sunday, March 31

The following morning, starting at 6:00 WYJ participants formed three parades, which joined at Via della Conciliazione to reach St. Peter's Square together - where the final mass would be celebrated.[8] The sources attest in the morning the presence of about 250,000[9][10]/ 300,000[11][12] people from 70 countries, mostly Italians; but there were about twenty thousand Spaniards and five thousand pilgrims from Eastern European countries (primarily Poland, Yugoslavia and Hungary). Young people from Alaska, Lebanon were also present in Rome, as also from Africa and the Far East. Also noteworthy are the presence of other Christian confessions (especially English Protestants), and even non-Christians (including four hundred Japanese Buddhists).[13]

The event

Although it is not a real WYJ (it is considered a sort of "zero edition"), this meeting has some traits that will characterize all future international events of WYD: for example, participants are given a "pilgrim's bag" and a cap with the logo of the day; for hospitality to pilgrims a network of accommodation facilities in the area is activated; an anthem is composed for the occasion.

The anthem

The song "Resta qui com noi" by the musical group Gen Rosso (texts by V. Ciprì and music by B. Enderle) was composed for the gathering and inaugurated the tradition of adopting an official anthem for each World Youth Day.[14][15]

The establishment of WYDs

Given the success of the day, the Pope on next December 20 officially proclaimed the establishment of the World Youth Days[16], which will be held every year in all the dioceses of the world on Palm Sunday (in 1986 it would be called the alternation on two-year cycle diocesan editions and world editions in a city selected by the Pontifical Council for the Laity).[17][18] John Paul II after World Youth Meeting in Rome decided to announce World Youth Day in 1986.

References

1. "I Jornada Mundial da Juventude 1986". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
2. "Nuncio Apostólico presidirá celebración de la Jornada Mundial de la Juventud 2014 – Jesuitas". www.antsj.org. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
3. "150 MILA GIOVANI DAL PAPA PER LA FESTA DELLE PALME - la Repubblica.it". Retrieved 21 February 2018.
4. "Día Internacional de la Juventud, 12 de agosto". www.un.org. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
5. "JMJ 2005 - La peregrinación de la Cruz de los Jóvenes (1984-2014)". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
6. "Dilecti Amici, a los jóvenes del mundo con ocasión del Año internacional de la juventud (31 de marzo de 1985) - Juan Pablo II". w2.vatican.va. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
7. "'UN TERZO MILLENNIO DI PACE VOGLIAMO GRANO, NON CANNONI' - la Repubblica.it". Retrieved 21 February 2018.
8. "Trentuno anni di Gmg, una Chiesa amica dei giovani - AgenSIR". 18 March 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
9. "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.
10. "XX Jornada Mundial de la Juventud 2005 :: ACI Prensa". www.aciprensa.com. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
11. [Source ANSA, reported in The Revolution in a Day, Pino Vicentini, Avvenire, Friday 11 August 2000.]
12. "Historia de las JMJ". www.laici.va. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
13. "CENTOCINQUANTAMILA GIOVANI PER LE STRADE DI ROMA IN NOME DEL PAPA E DE - la Repubblica.it". Retrieved 21 February 2018.
14. "Gen Rosso". www.genrosso.com. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
15. "goyaproducciones.com". Retrieved 21 February 2018.
16. "EL CAMINO DE LAS JORNADAS MUNDIALES DE LA JUVENTUD". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
17. "Así se elige la ciudad de la Jornada Mundial de la Juventud: una puja discreta entre países". Retrieved 21 February 2018.
18. "Pontificio Consejo para los Laicos". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 21 February 2018.