In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Peace be with you. Thank you.
Happy National Fiesta to all Peruvians!
Dear young people,

I welcome you to this house of Peter, where you come as pilgrims of hope. You are all pilgrims of hope, and you come to encounter thousands of other young people and to celebrate the Jubilee together. In seeing you, I also think of your families and of the many people of your parish communities who have surely helped you, with great sacrifices and efforts, to make this keenly awaited journey possible. I greet you all with gratitude and joy.

On the eve of this event, which is so important for young people throughout the world, the Gospel of today’s Mass enlightens us in a particular way. They are two parables that help us in our Christian journey: the first talks about a tiny mustard seed, and the second, a little leaven (cf. Mt 13:13-35). As we see, they are two almost insignificant elements, we might say: and yet, with the strength of life they carry in them, they can transform, grow and serve the purpose for which they were created.

We too are small, but we are not alone; the Lord wanted us to be part of a great family, the family of the Church. Incorporated into it in Christ, like grapes on the vine, we can grow and bear fruit, helped by the Lord’s grace. Saint Augustine speaks about these two parables, commenting on one of the Psalms, Psalm 69, and he too expresses this power of what is small, which when it grows takes root in a people, the people of God who spread throughout the earth (cf. Commentary on Psalm 69, I, 1).

In these days of the Jubilee of Youth, you are all having the beautiful experience of feeling part of God’s people, part of the universal Church, which envelops and embraces all the earth, without distinction of race, language or nation, spreading like the mustard plant and fermenting like yeast.

Dear young people, I would like you to keep everything you live in these days in your heart, but not to conserve it only for yourselves. This is very important: let what you will experience here be not only for yourselves. We must learn how to share. Please, let all of this remain not only as a memory, like a nice photo, as something from the past. When you return to Peru, I would like you to flood those lands with the joy and the power of the Gospel, with the Good News of Jesus Christ. May all the people you meet be able to see in you the face of Christ who loves and who gives himself, who continues to be present in every baptized person. To this end, love and serve freely, in your daily lives, in the small things, in the hidden things, because you have experienced the joy of being loved first, and because you have received everything freely from God our Father.

The rucksacks that accompany you in these days, containing the bare essentials, are the sign of the mission the Pope is entrusting to you today: be missionaries wherever you go, let the Lord’s presence show in you, as our beloved Peruvian saints did. You know that Pope Francis always spoke of Peru as a land that is “ensantada”, with many saints, but not only from the past: saints also of today and tomorrow.

May God bless you and Our Lady of Evangelization protect you always. Thank you.

[Blessing]

Viva Christ!

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Holy See Press Office Bulletin, 28 July 2025