World Youth Day 2023 - Way of the Cross

Photo Credit: Vatican News

Source: Vatican News

Friday's World Youth Day (WYD) Way of the Cross in the Eduardo VII Park was a most moving and dramatic event.

Matilde Trocado, artistic director of the Way of the Cross, said there was a youthful and contemporary approach to the 14 Stations, each of which focused on a specific "fragility" of young people across the globe. She underlined the different approach adopted to plan the Via Crucis, starting from a "global consultation" that involved young people worldwide. "It's a youthful and, I think, contemporary approach," Ms. Trocado affirmed, noting innovations in the staging of the event and the participation of 50 young people from 21 countries.

The group is called Ensemble23. "They applied, sent videos and did interviews," the artistic director reported. "And then they got here mid-June and started working." The group rehearsed and worked together for six weeks. "It came to be a really interesting artistic and pastoral experience," Ms. Trocado said. "They're sort of like a family right now, but a really multicultural family, because you have people from every continent. It's been wonderful."

According to the event's press release, the Way of the Cross' meditations emerged as part of the International Youth Advisory Body of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. This was created after the 2018 Synod, whose theme was 'Young people, faith and vocational discernment.'

The young people making up the Ensemble23 carried the Cross and choreographically interpreted the fragility associated with each Station. Among the "fragilities" identified by young people worldwide, Ms. Trocado noted especially mental health, violence, solitude, and a concern about the destruction of Creation.

Watch highlights here on the Vatican YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECDbQIYUX5s

See the Vatican film of the entire event: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXSPoeSCEeA