On foot. by bicycle, in a camper – any way is a good way to take part in the 15^th World Day of Youth. As the registrations gradually increase, many groups have informed us of the initiatives which they have planned for their visit to WDY2000.

By bicycle

From many dioceses of Italy, including Padua and Novara, more than 300 people will be arriving in Rome after a pilgrimage on two wheelers.  The young people, guided by cyclists who are experts in this kind of venture, stage by stage, will follow the pilgrims’ ways.  They will travel hundreds of kilometres, and  will be awaited at each “stop” by young people from the Italian dioceses who will be hosting around 200,000 young people arriving in Italy for the WDY2000 from all over the world, between 10^th and 14^th August.

There will also be some arriving on foot. This is true of Meg, the Eucharistic Youth Movement promoted by the Jesuits.  More than 3000 youngsters from every continent will be meeting up in six different Italian locations.  From the North, the Centre and the South, these young people will be taking the “Road of the Jubilee of the Young”.  After a week of walking, they will meet at the gates of Rome, and will all take part together in the Jubilee of the Young.  They too, during their long pilgrimage, will meet the communities of many Italian towns and villages to which they will bring their own testimony.

In many respects, these are young people who are “going against the stream”, and they will make that clear by the simplicity of their actions.  Like Titti and Antonio, both Sicilians.  They will be marrying on the Eve of the Assumption.  Rather than taking advantage of the summer for a conventional holiday, they will be making their wedding journey to the World Day of Youth, “alongside the Pope”, they tell us, “and all the other young people with whom we want to share the mutual joy of those days”.

By camper