Over a million young people attended the week-long Jubilee in Rome, ending with Mass, message of hope from Pope
DETROIT — More than one million young people from across the globe, including the Archdiocese of Detroit, descended on Rome and Vatican City from July 28 to August 3 for the international celebration of the Jubilee of Young People, part of the 2025 Jubilee Holy Year.
There, they say they experienced a profound deepening of their faith and were bolstered by the vastness and strength of the universal church.
For a week, young people were invited to engage further with the universal church and Pope Leo XIV through a series of cultural events and celebrations, Mass and the sacrament of reconciliation. This culminated with a pilgrimage to Tor Vergata on Saturday, August 3, where young people participated in an evening vigil with the Holy Father and then camped overnight at the site.
The following Sunday morning, Pope Leo celebrated Mass for the one million gathered, centering his message on the Jubilee’s theme: Pilgrims of Hope.
"Dear young people, Jesus is our hope," Pope Leo said in his Aug. 4 homily. “It is He," as Saint John Paul II said, addressing young people in the same place during the 2000 Jubilee, Pope Leo remembered, “who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives [...] to commit… to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal.”
Father-son duo Michael and Jack Novak of Metro Detroit United led a pilgrimage group of teens, ages 13-19, from four parishes: St. René Goupil, St. Jane Frances de Chantal, St. Lawrence in Utica, and Our Lady Star of the Sea. For many of the young people, seeing the Pope up close was a highlight of their trip.
“My experience in Rome has been awesome! It’s been filled with God's presence as he watches over us and keeps us safe,” said Owen Brink, 18, from St. René Goupil. “Seeing the pope was one of the greatest moments of my life.”
Despite seeing incredible tourist sites, faith remained at the heart of the trip, according to 19-year-old St. Lawrence parishioner Emma Friederich.
“Growing in faith has been at the heart of everything we’ve done in Pisa and Rome,” Friedrich said. “It was awesome to see all the nations coming together in one place for the same reason: faith.”
Patrick Howard, the Archdiocesan coordinator of young adult and campus ministry, led 12 young people, defined by the Church as those aged 18 to 35, to the Eternal City in partnership with Verso Ministries, a Catholic pilgrimage company.
Tony Zick, 35 and a parishioner at St. Mary’s in Royal Oak, took part in Howard’s group and joked that the pilgrimage was his last one as a “young person” in the Church. He also said that the range of ages, cultural backgrounds, and origins of the millions gathered led to a profound experience of the universality of the Church.
“I talked to people from all over (the world),” Zick told Detroit Catholic. “It was fun to talk to them, just like I was talking to my friends (back home), and see that they are really into their faith, too, and how we are both so similar and different. There was a mutual value in that we are all Catholic…we all love each other as part of humanity and part of the Church.”
For Lexa Davis, 26, from St Anastasia’s in Troy, walking the streets of Rome and visiting the many historic churches and landmarks helped her feel more deeply connected with the central heart and history of the Church, dating back to St. Peter, the first Pope.
Davis said the group visited the tombs of holy men and women such as Sts. Peter and Paul, St. Agnes, St. Catherine of Siena, and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who will be canonized by Pope Leo on September 7.
“Seeing those tombs of these saints and being connected to where they died, especially St. Peter, the rock of the Church, who is right there (in St. Peter’s Basilica), and whose successor was with us, I felt really connected to the Catholic faith and the history. It all started with Peter, and here we are – my friends and I – with both Peter and Pope Leo.”
While every inch of the city was crowded, Davis called the chaos “beautiful” because of the hopeful message it sends to the rest of the Church and the world.
“You had so many young people who are fully participating in the Church; that is an inspiring message of hope for the future of the Church,” Davis said. “More than a million young adults were excitedly cheering for the Pope, for daily mass, for confession, and for adoration.”
Josh Anderson, 30 and a parishioner at St. Anastasia, said that all of the young people were very “eager” to interact with one another, knowing that they shared so much through their Catholic identities.
“Catholic, meaning universal, was really clear with all the interactions with people,” Anderson said.
It can be tempting to feel disconnected and disenchanted with how the world is represented today on social media, in politics or in the news, Anderson said, but the fellowship with young people and the messages shared by the Pope served as reminders to remain hopeful.
“Pope Leo has spoken a lot, even before this past week, about peace and about hope and decision making,” he said. “It was nice to hear the combined message, because peace can sometimes be interpreted as stepping back or stepping away. But the Pope emphasized being courageous in decision-making and holding fast to hope and moving forward, and how that commitment would result in peace,” Anderson said.
Zick said that the gathering of over a million young people sends the world a message that faith is not a passing trend.
“Young people are hungry for Jesus and hungry to belong to a faith family,” Zick said. “It shows that young people are willing to make big sacrifices and do difficult pilgrimages and go great lengths to experience God.”
