We interviewed young people from three different communities while they were in the large Tor Vergata camp, in the hinterland of Rome, which welcomed over a million pilgrims from 146 countries at the beginning of August.

We asked them to talk to us live about their experience and, more generally, about how they see the Church and Catholic spirituality.
An interesting insight, even for those who are not familiar with the matter and have only seen videos of young men and women dancing in the streets.

What was your strongest emotion?

“There are young people from all over the world, from Congo to Malawi to South Korea who will be the next host country, the USA, Mexico…young people from everywhere gathered here, in a barren field, in sleeping bags,” says Jacopo, 22, who came with the youth group from his parish on the outskirts of Rome.

“It is astonishing how all these people are in harmony with each other, united by the same songs even if in different languages, by the same joy and the same enormous desire to be here, together.
We exchange flags, bracelets, hats. We meet each other. We communicate without knowing languages but somehow we always understand each other’.

Sofia, who turned 30 this year and came as leader of a scout group of girls aged 16 to 20, also enjoyed “breathing that joy of being there, the desire to meet and share among so many pilgrims who were all there for the same reason”.
She was particularly impressed by the evening vigil and the moment when the young people asked the pope their questions.

Francesco, 21, expresses himself with an image: ‘It moved me to know that I was a blade of grass in a meadow more lush than I could have ever believed. It moved me to know that I am not alone, that I am walking towards the light of a common ideal’.

Francesco came as a volunteer for a parish in the same municipality as Jacopo, albeit in a more affluent neighbourhood.
“I have always wondered why young people drift away from the church. And the answer is perhaps more simple than you think: from the pulpit one preaches morality rather than love.
But when one is the bearer of a truth, he becomes an affable and seductive witness to it even without having to resort to strict rules.
When a man is in love, you see the beloved woman shine in his eyes and vice versa. You don’t need schemes or structures. The same happens with God’.

In this regard, Jacopo recalls ‘when we listened to the testimony of the mother of Sammy Basso, a biologist who died prematurely due to a rare disease.
It was a very strong, moving witness, focused on the value of life and on the faith and hope that must never be lacking in the life of a Christian, especially in times of greatest difficulty’.

Does being Catholic make any difference at your age?

“In my case,” says Sofia, “I would be a completely different person, because faith permeates my life and guides my choices. It gives me a vision of reality in which I am not alone and nothing happens by chance, not even pain”.

“For the studies I do,” says Francesco, who is enrolled in medicine, “striving to find the face of God in every single patient gives a different perspective. You take loving care of the person in front of you.”

Jacopo notes that, as far as lifestyle is concerned, he does not change much compared to his peers. “I don’t make worldly renunciations because fortunately the church is no longer asking for this. The only difference I notice perhaps is about blasphemy, which in Italy is now used as an interlude by everyone else’.

Moreover, ‘while today’s young people experience the rejection of adults, of authority, and have no idea what a true intergenerational confrontation is, the young people of the church have the luck to confront themselves with adults, from priests to educators to all the people who happen to pass by the parish’.

Is the church’s past an obstacle or an incentive for those who choose to be Catholic today?

“I feel that I represent a modern church,” Jacopo tells us, “that might appeal to those who have never experienced this environment. I condemn the scandals of the church, firmly, but I know that that is not the church I have as an ideal. There are bad people and bad acts, inside and outside, because the church is a mirror of society, not a better or perfect society. It is based on the human being, and human beings are by their nature fallacious’.

Instead, Francesco regrets that Italy’s Catholic past still leads many people to celebrate its rites only out of cultural heritage.
“Looking at the first communions in my parish, I thought that some intellectual honesty would be useful. We should recognise that, despite tradition, communion is not a custom that belongs to everyone’.

“I think a perfect story cannot exist, and if the church was told as a perfect story, it would be false,” Sofia argues. “I don’t justify what has been done wrong, but I do think that it reflects a bit of the humanity that is inherent in all of us”.

Would the reform of the female diaconate change anything for your peers?

Francesco has never been interested in it and has not had the opportunity to talk about it with women who are interested in it.
On the contrary, in Jacopo’s group, which is predominantly made up of young women, there is a lot of talk about it.
“I see the diaconate as a sop. I am of the opinion that it is better to be open to the priesthood in 20 years’ time than the diaconate in 5 years’ time, but then blocking any possibility of women applying for the priesthood”.

“In my experience, it is a topic that interests the younger generation more,” says Sofia. “I happened to talk about it with kids younger than me, but never with older people”.