The welcome prepared for the young participants in the 15^th World Day of Youth will be of the “simple” kind.  It will be based on hospitality with families or with the various Catholic bodies (religious institutes, parishes, Catholic schools), and with some public bodies (schools and universities).  From the beginning the aim which has guided the Italian Committee for the 15^th World Day of Youth has been the creation of an organisation which will not only involve the young people, but the whole community, at parish and diocesan level.

Housing and welcoming networks

The young people, with their sleeping-bags, will be housed in the locations made available to them (gymnasia, halls, corridors) according to the capacity and availability of the various bodies concerned.  In the public structures about 500,000 will be accommodated, about 150,000 in the Catholic institutions, and 11,000 in the universities.  Space will be made available for further accommodation by major bodies such as the Rome Food and Agricultural Centre on the Via Tiburtina, or Commerce-City on the Via Portuense, etc., amounting in all to about 45,000 places.  A further 15,000 will be housed in the tent-cities.  Families have also been asked to provide not so much a bed for the young visitors as a space where they can use their sleeping-bags and the use of bathroom facilities.  The coordination of all these places will be managed by a welcome network which will make use of the national secretariats – at area, district and parochial levels – as its key units.

In the very first days of WDY 2000, about 700,000 people will arrive in Rome, and the number will increase little by little as the great encounter at Tor Vergata approaches.  About 500,000 of these young people will be housed in Rome itself, while the others will be welcomed by the surrounding dioceses:  Albano, Civita Castellana-Nepi-Orte-Sutri-Gallese, Civitavecchia-Tarquinia, Frascati, Frosinone-Veroli-Ferentino, Latina-Terracina-Sezze-Priverno, Palestrina, Porto-Santa Ruffina, Sabina-Poggio Mirteto, Tivoli, Velletri-Segni, Viterbo.  Every diocese has an organisational structure agreed with the Committee, and approved by its own Bishop.  However, each of the twelve dioceses can be considered, in terms of the management of hospitality, as one of the 29 districts of the Diocese of Rome.

The parish secretariats will handle hospitality for an average of 2000 people each.   The welcome network designed in this way is intended always to be close to the individual, so that the hospitality offered may be made to measure, moment by moment, and will respond to the various needs that arise from those who come to Rome.