This theme marked the start of World Youth Day, but before the various meetings with Pope Francis, the Young Hospitallers’ meeting had been held with events organised in the Brothers and Sisters Hospitallers' communities.  Some 230 young people from all over the world took part in this meeting of Young Hospitallers, where the Brothers and Sisters brought with them the Hospitaller charism.

The pre-WYD Hospitaller Day started with an "getting to know everyone" event at the Sisters' Healthcare Centre in Idanha. With a number of recreational activities, these young people shared personal information and talked about their home countries and their hobbies. They also got to know the Centre that was hosting them.

That same approach was used for activities organised at the St John of God Healthcare Centre in Telhal. That day, the young people contributed to producing works of art which, when finished, will be posted on the Healthcare Centre’s website; they also visited the St John of God Museum and took a tour to learn about the mission of the Brothers in this Healthcare Centre, and the day ended with the celebration of Mass.

Our Young Hospitallers could hardly miss visiting our Mother in Heaven, and so on the 29th, they went to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima to visit the Chapel of the Apparitions, where they recited the Rosary asking Our Lady to bring peace to the world.

The 30th was a special day for the Young Hospitallers, because they went to visit the birthplace of our Founder, St John of God, at Montemor o Novo. Mass was celebrated, presided over by our Superior General, Brother Jesús Etayo. Immediately after the Mass, the young people talked with the two Superiors General of both Congregations, the Brothers and Sisters Hospitallers. Questions were asked about the choice of a vocation, the management of the provinces, and the animation of the Young Hospitallers.

The Pre-WYD event ended on 31 July at the Sisters' St Joseph Clinic in Lisbon: it provided an opportunity to pray together and also to learn more about the Order. On this occasion the young people also held conversations with the Provincial Superiors of both Congregations. They asked questions regarding vocations animation and promotion, and the mission. 

After the Pre-WYD event with the Young Hospitallers, WYD Lisbon 2023 began with the inaugural Mass celebrated by the Patriarch of Lisbon, Cardinal Manuel Clemente. The WYD highlighted the new methodologies being proposed by Pope Francis, such as:

Rise Up Catechesis: a new model promoted by Pope Francis to challenge young people to reflect and act on fundamental issues for our lives such as integral ecology, social friendship and mercy.

The City of Joy: This is the name of the event at which all the Religious communities gathered to stage a vocations fair and share with young people the different charisms of the Church.

The Park of Forgiveness:  an area with confessionals to motivate the young people to become reconciled with Our Lord.

In his addresses to the young people, Pope Francis called upon them to embrace their own lives, to be the agents of their experiences as a response to God's individual call to each one by name. He insisted on reminding them that they are God's beloved children and urged them to go forth to share the joy that this Youth Day had given them, to be missionaries.

At one of the meetings with the young people, Pope Francis took St John of God as an example of charity, teling them the story of Juan Ciudad, motivating them to practise charity in order to be happy. The Pope said that it was when Juan Ciudad began his work with the sick that he encountered Jesus and found happiness, so much so that from that day on he continued to be called John of God. (Link to the full text:

https://www.religiondigital.org/mundo/Encuentro-asociaciones-caritativasViernes-manana_0_2584241566.html

The Pope ended the day with the farewell Mass and announced that the next World Youth Day would be in Asia, in Seoul, Korea, and called upon our young people to take part in the Youth Jubilee in Rome in 2025.