World Children’s Day 2024
Pope Francis Declares Inaugural World Children’s Day: A Celebration of Hope, Joy, and the Future
This was the Holy Father’s announcement on the 8th December 2023 Post Angelus ” And now I have the joy to announce that on the 25th and 26th of May next year, we will celebrate the first World Day of Children in Rome. The initiative, organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education, responds to the question: What type of world do we want to transmit to the children who are growing up? Like Jesus, we want to put children at the center and take care of them”.
The idea of a Day entirely dedicated to the youngest among us, had been proposed to the Pope in July by a child, 9-year-old Alessandro, on the occasion of the Popecast, the second podcast made by Vatican Media with Pope Francis in view of the WYD in Lisbon “I like it very much!” the Pope replied after listening to the voice message. “We can have it organized by the grandparents. A beautiful idea. I will think about it and see how to do it.”
The first World Children’s Day would likely become a regular event and acknowledges the Pope’s desire to listen and encounter children.
It will be a peaceful invasion (tens of thousands of children from all over the world are expected) and will take place between two symbolic places of the city of Rome: Piazza San Pietro and the Foro Italico (Olympic Stadium).
More information on World Children’s Day (lodging, transportation, and other logistical details) is available on the official website, including the form to pre – book the event through Dioceses, Parishes, Movements, Groups, Schools or Associations.
On 2nd March the Holy Father sent a message to all the children of the world, inviting them to join him, together with the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph in this pray:
“Come, Holy Spirit, show us your beauty, reflected in the faces of children all over the world. Come, Jesus, you who make all things new, who are the way that leads us to the Father, come and remain with us always. Amen.”
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- Photo by David Beale su Unsplash