Seven months after Our Lady gave the message about the youth to Jelena to relay to John Paul II (September 16, 1983), an inspiration was born in the heart of the Holy Father that led the youth from all over the world to embrace the Holy Father and the message he was bringing to them. The inspiration was World Youth Day. George Weigel, the Pope’s official biographer chronicled the development of this special movement inspired by Our Lady and the Holy Spirit:
“During the Holy Year youth meeting in Rome on Palm Sunday, 1984, the idea of a World Youth Day began to germinate, and John Paul II invited the youth of the world back to Rome for Palm Sunday, 1985. Some 250,000 enthusiastic youngsters accepted. It was then decided to mark Palm Sunday, 1986, as the first ‘official’ World Youth Day, and to celebrate it in the different dioceses around the world.â€
Beginning in 1987, and continuing biannually, World Youth Day is celebrated with the Pope at different locales internationally.
