Pope Francis has agreed with a recommendation by the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life to postpone by one year the next gatherings of the World Meeting of Families and World Youth Day. The World Meeting of Families in Rome has been pushed to June 2022 and World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, has been postponed to August 2023, the Vatican announced. World Youth day was originally scheduled for April 5, Palm Sunday
The other reason, Farrell said, is that although people are talking about “returning to normal” and government leaders are making plans for phasing out lockdowns and reopening businesses, “we do not believe travel will be that extensive” anytime soon.
The dicastery has canceled all international meetings until January 2021, although it is planning for a few young people from Panama, where World Youth Day was celebrated in 2019, to hand the World Youth Day cross to a few young people from Lisbon Nov. 22, the feast of Christ the King.