Over half a million young pilgrims expected to visit Rome, Vatican City to attend 'Youth Jubilee'

Vatican City, July 30 (IANS) Over half a million young Catholics are expected to participate in the Youth Jubilee, which began with a mass by the Pope Leo XIV in St Peter's Square late Tuesday evening. Thousands of young Catholics visited St Peter's Square as the Youth Jubilee kicked off, for which Pope held a welcome mass.

From July 28-August 3, the Vatican and Rome will host several events decided to young Catholics from at least 146 nations. As many as 500,000 are expected to attend the events, Euro News reported on Wednesday. The celebration will conclude on the first Sunday of August at Rome's Tor Vergata.

A large hostel which has the capacity of hosting about 25,000 people has been set up at the Fiera di Roma. In addition, nearly thousand parishes, schools and families will provide accommodation and breakfast to visitors. Others arrangements that have been made for pilgrims include discounted meal vouchers, shower services at major public transport hubs, almost 3,000 chemical toilets on the streets of Rome and the upgrade of underground and regional trains and buses.

Security measures have been made and gates have been set up to prevent dangerous materials and objects into certain areas. Pilgrims have been advised to carry only the bare essentials to facilitate controls. A 400-square metre control room will manage the flow of surveillance cameras in the areas where events are underway.

Pilgrims will be able to spend the night on the law outside Tor Vergata as they wait for the Pope's morning mass on Sunday. Volunteers will distribute water bottles to pilgrims and an app by municipal company Acea will provide a map of the 2,660 free water supply points in Rome.

Apart from Pope's mass on Tuesday, Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle celebrated Mass for Catholic influencers and digital missionaries. Several minor events will be held in the city on Wednesday and Thursday. The Circus Maximus will host a Day of Penance on Friday, in which 200 stations will be made available for pilgrims to hear confessions.

Saturday will be dedicated to music, with groups taking turn to perform on stage at Tor Vergata. A total of 355 tents and gazebos, 2,400 square metres of video screens and 110 generators, 20 kilometre of fibre optics and 15 kilometers of electric cables are there in the area.

--IANS

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