Symbols of WYD

World Youth Days are accompanied by two symbols a Holy Year

Cross and an Icon of Our Lady Salus Populi Romani (Protectress of
the Roman People). During World Youth Day celebrations, these
symbols are present on site for the Main Events. In preparation for
the Days, the symbols make a pilgrimage in the country which
organizes the meeting. For the next generation of young people,
these Symbols indicate the true "purpose" of World Youth Day:
getting to know Jesus deeper and deeper in the Mystery of
Redemption and abandonment of their lives to the protection of Our
Lady.

"
World Youth Days are accompanied by two symbols a Holy Year
Cross and an Icon of Our Lady Salus Populi Romani (Protectress of
the Roman People). During World Youth Day celebrations, these
symbols are present on site for the Main Events. In preparation for
the Days, the symbols make a pilgrimage in the country which
organizes the meeting. For the next generation of young people,
these Symbols indicate the "true purpose" of World Youth Day:
getting to know Jesus deeper and deeper in the Mystery of
Redemption and abandonment of their lives to the protection of Our
Lady.
My dear young people, at the conclusion of the Holy Year, I
entrust to you the sign of this Jubilee Year: the Cross of
Christ! Carry it throughout the world as a symbol of Christs
love for humanity, and announce to everyone that only in
the death and resurrection of Christ can we find salvation
and redemption

St. John Paul II, Rome, 22nd April 1984

The Cross
The wooden cross, which nowadays is called "The World Youth Day
Cross," was made in 1983 to celebrate the beginning of the Holy
Year of Jubilee of the Redemption (25.03.1983 22.04.1984). During
the opening celebration of the Holy Year, young people brought this
cross to St. Peters Basilica, where it remained for the duration of the
Jubilee. Set beside the Tomb of St. Peter, it accompanied the
following celebrations and groups of pilgrims, who came to the
Vatican. Also among them were young people who were
representatives of movements and communities which collectively
responded to the invitation made by the Holy Father.
The youth asked the Pope to give them the cross after the end of the
Holy Year celebrations, and the Holy Father granted their wish. On
Easter Sunday he gave them the Holy Year Cross with the words:
"I entrust to you the sign of this Jubilee Year: the Cross of Christ!
Carry it throughout the world as a symbol of Christs love for
humanity, and announce to everyone that only in the death and
resurrection of Christ can we find salvation and redemption."
This event was not only the beginning of the journey of the cross
throughout the world, but it was also the herald of World Youth Days.
The cross is a meeting, a moment when young people first
personally experience the Mystery of Redemption and later bring it
to the world, to their peers, families and fellow citizens. Thats why
the first World Youth Days (and to this day youth days in dioceses)
were held on Palm Sunday right before Easter.
At first the young took the cross to their place (the San Lorenzo
Centre), a youth centre founded by St. John Paul II in Vatican. There
the cross lives permanently and from there it is carried by young
people as it embarks on further journeys. First it went to Germany
for Catholic Days (1984), and later to other European countries. In
1987 in Buenos Aires, the second World Youth Day (and the first
outside of Italy) took place, and for the first time the cross was taken
outside Europe. It was the beginning of the cross pilgrimage around
the world.
Up to this day, the cross has been present on all continents,
including countries which face wars and conflicts. Young people
brought it to both shrines and places of religious events, as well as
anywhere where prevailing testimony of faith is needed. Beside this
cross prayers were held onsite of the attacks of the World Trade
Centre in New York, and in the country of Rwanda which is struggling
with the consequences of the bloody civil war. The cross visited not
only the seat of the UN, but also little schools, hospitals and prisons.
Since April 14 2014 the cross and the icon of Our Lady have been
making a pilgrimage in Polish dioceses, to prepare Poland for the
World Youth Days.

The Icon of the Mother of God

Salus Populi Romani
"

The Icon of the Mother of God Salus

Populi Romani
The painting of Our Lady Salus Populi Romani is one of the most
venerated images of Mary in Italy. The title "Protectress of the
Roman People" dates back to the events at the end of the 6th
century, when the inhabitants of Rome suffered from the epidemic
of the Bubonic Plague. In the year 590, Pope Gregory the Great
carried the image of Mary in a suppliant procession; asking her to
save the city. Then he saw an angel in the sky, sheathing his
punitive sword. Shortly after this the plague ceased.

Today, renowned for its graces, the icon of the Mother of God is
located in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. This is a place
Romans visit on pilgrimage with many prayer intentions. Starting
and completing apostolic journeys at Saint Mary Major is also a
custom of Pope Francis.

For the first time Our Lady in this image appeared at World Youth
Day in the year 2000, when a copy of the icon was placed on the
Papal altar at Tor Vergata.
Three years later, during the Day in Dioceses, Saint John Paul II
urged the young to through Mary come closer to Jesus. In his
message for World Youth Day 2003 he explained: Mary was given
to you to help you enter into a more authentic and more personal
relationship with Jesus. Through her example, Mary teaches you to
gaze on him with love, for He has loved us first. It was during this
meeting that the Pope gave the youth the copy of the icon, to travel
around the world together with the cross. Thus, he passed on to the
youth his testament: the phrase "Totus Tuus", which is held onto by
successive generations of young people today at the foot of the
Mother of God "of World Youth Day".
The painting of Our Lady Salus Populi Romani is one of the most
venerated images of Mary in Italy. The title "Protectress of the
Roman People" dates back to the events at the end of the 6th
century, when the inhabitants of Rome suffered from the epidemic
of the Bubonic Plague. In the year 590, Pope Gregory the Great
carried the image of Mary in a suppliant procession; asking her to
save the city. Then he saw an angel in the sky, sheathing his
punitive sword. Shortly after this the plague ceased.
"Know, however, that in difficult times, which everyone
experiences, you are not alone: like John at the foot of the
Cross, Jesus also gives His Mother to you so that She will
comfort you with Her tenderness."

St. John Paul II - the message for World Youth Day 2003

These two symbols - the cross and the icon of Mother of God - travel
a long distance every year so that young people may encounter
Jesus Christ through them and always be prepared to give a defense
to anyone who calls them to account for the hope that is in them.