The first day of the XV World Youth Day is dedicated to catechesis, the jubilee pilgrimages to the Basilica of St. Peter  and the confessions at Circo Massimo. Already from the first hours of this morning a flock  of young people qued along Via della Conciliazione and St. Peter Square to pass through the Holy Door fulfilling their jubilee pilgrimage, which today involves the Arabians, Bulgarians, Cecks , Chinese, Coreans, Croatians, Estonians, Japanese, Greeks, Lettonians, Lithuans, Dutch, Portuguese, Romans, Russians, Scandinavians, Slovaks, Slovenians, Tagalogs, Ukrainians, Hungarians, Vietnamise, Polish, French, Italians, English, Spanish and Deutch.

At at 10.am, this morning the Bishops catechesis to the youth have initiated in 155 different places of Rome and the nearby dioceses. Among those who have started catechesis this morning are: Monsignor Bechara Rai, Jebeil of Maronites in Arabian language, at St. Mary in Trastevere; Monsignor Gérard Daucourt, Orléans Bishop for mental disabled people, at the Paul VI hall of the;  Vatican City Monsignor Lorenzo Chiarinelli,  Bishop of Viterbo, for deaf people at St. Gregorio VII Church in Rome; Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, Arcibishop of Paris, in French, at Saints Ambrose and Charles Church in Rome; French Episcopal Conference President and Lyon Bishop Monsignor Louis-Marie Billé in French at tennis stadium in Rome; CEI President and Vicar of Rome Cardinal Camillo Ruini, in Italian, at St. John the Lateran Basilica; Milan Arcibishop Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, in Italian, at Italian Civilization Palace stairs (Quadrato della Concordia); the Cardinal Ersilio Tonini, in Italian, at Jesus Church in Rome; Turin Aricibishop, Monsignor Severino Poletto, in Italian, at St. Lorenzo in Lucina Church in Rome;  the Bishop Emeritus of Ivrea Mons. Luigi Bettazzi, in Italian, at Nostra Signora del Suffragio and St. Agostino Church in Rome; Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, Prefect of Congregation for Oriental Churches, in Italian at St. Benedetto Church, in Rome; the Secretary of Congregation for  doctrine of faith, Monsignor Tarcisio Bertone, in Italian, at Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica; the Bishops Germano Zaccheo (Casale), Vincenzo Savio (Livorno) and Antonio Riboldi (Acerra) in Rebibbia, Casal del Marmo and Regina Cieli Prison; the Sckodre Bishop Monsignor Angelo Massafra, in Italian, at Polar Star Stadium in Ostia; the Cardinal Francis Arinze, Pontificial Council for interreligious dialogue, in English, at the Basilica of Saint Paul outside the wall in Rome; the Arcibishop Monsignor John Foley, President of Pontificial Council for Social Communication in English, at st. Maria Goretti Church in Rome; the Arcibishop of Madrid  Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, in Spanish, at Commercal City of Via Portuense in Rome; and Deutch Episcopal Conference President and Bishop of Mainz Monsignor Karl Lehmann, in Deutch, at St. Joseph Artigiano Church in Rome.

Among the places which offer hospitality to the catechesis (beside the Churches), are Villa Torlonia for Croatians, Capannelle Hyppodrome for Portuguese, Villa Borghese for youth of Tagalog language at Villa Pamphili for Ucranian, Autodrome of Vallelunga and Hyppodrome of Tor di Valle for Polish, St. Peter Square of Frascati for French people, the Pala Ariccia and Comunal Stadium of Frascati, Latina, Velletri e Guidonia for Italian, XIX March Square of Cisterna di Latina for English, the convent “La Quercia” of Viterbo and Villa Ada in Rome for Spanish and Villa Carpegna in Rome for Deutch people.