date: 23.07.2019.
Another organisation meeting prior to the Youth Festival was held in Medjugorje and the theme of this year’s Festival is “Follow me” (Mk 10, 21).
The leader of the choir and orchestra, the Franciscan Youth, technicians and many others in charge of the organisation reported to the Apostolic Visitor for the parish of Medjugorje, Archbishop Hoser, about all that was done to this day and about the preparations to follow in the forthcoming days for the successful start of the Youth Festival.
This year’s Youth Festival will last from August 1 to 6, and Mons. Hoser said that the decision of the Holy Father in which he approved the pilgrimages to Medjugorje does not only mean that pilgrims can come here, but also it is the permission for bishops and cardinals to celebrate Holy Masses at this place. Therefore, he announced that the opening Holy Mass on Thursday, August 1, shall be celebrated by the Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, Vicar General of Rome, while the closing Holy Mass will be celebrated by Rino Fisichella, the President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation.
Mons. Fisichella will also give catechesis to the youth, as well as the former General Minister of the Order of Friars Minor, Archbishop Jose Rodriguez Carballo, current Secretary for the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life; Archbishop Luigi Pezzuto, Apostolic Nuncio to Bosnia and Herzegovina; Mons. Dominique Rey, Bishop of Toulun in France; Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, Archbishop of Valencia, Italy; Mons. Vlado Košić, Bishop of Sisak, Croatia; Cardinal Vinko Puljić, Archbishop of Vrhbosna and Mons. Henryk Hoser, the Apostolic Visitor for the parish of Medjugorje.
The Youth Festival will finish with Holy Mass at 5 am on Cross Mountain, on August 6, and there will be catechesis each day, as well as testimonies, processions, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and meditations.
Along with many cardinals, bishops and priests, dozens of thousands of pilgrims are expected in Medjugorje and live streaming service transmitted in dozen of languages will connect around one million of viewers all over the world. The whole event will be recorded with six cameras, two cranes and one drone, with enhanced production than in the previous years. Another 40 volunteers are expected to arrive from Spain to Medjugorje for this occasion.
