Editor's Note: Don't miss Colm Flynn's full report of his trip to Portugal ahead of World Youth Day this Friday on EWTN News In Depth at 8pmET on EWTN.

CASCAIS, Portugal — In the parish center of the small coastal town of Cascais, just on the edge of the city of Lisbon, it was a warm, still evening; and, outside, the Atlantic Ocean gently lapped against the shore, while colorful wooden boats bobbed in the water. 

As I was preparing to interview a group of young people for television, they burst through the door, having just come from Mass. 

I jumped up to greet them. They shook my hand enthusiastically, offering warm, welcoming smiles. 

These young people are part of a Catholic youth group here in Lisbon. They are among the small percentage of the Portuguese population who still regularly practice their faith and the even smaller percentage of these who are young. 

They took their seats around me, and the cameras started rolling. “So, how are you feeling now that World Youth Day is getting so close?” I asked. Carmina spoke first: “I think it’s going to be great! We are so excited to have Catholics from all over the place and non-Catholics coming.” 

A boy sitting across from her chimed in, “I’m especially excited about one thing: that all the people who are speaking badly about World Youth Day here in Lisbon are going to see just how many people are going to come.”

Martha is a bit more apprehensive. “I’m a little bit nervous,” she admitted. “I think it has to go well, and believing in Christ, I know it will go well. However, where I work, I’m the only one who is Catholic. So I’m worried they’re not going to see it the way I’m going to see it. They will just be annoyed that Lisbon will be full of people; transportation is going to be full, etc. I think people who don’t believe will be bothered.”

Martha’s concerns are ones that others have raised. How will the city of Lisbon, which is normally home to 500,000 people, cope with an influx of an extra 1 to 2 million pilgrims? Pope Francis has released several video messages encouraging young people around the world to travel to Lisbon, saying that “participation in WYD is a beautiful thing.” That’s exactly what Pope Francis, the Catholic Church in Portugal, and the hundreds of people involved in the organizing are banking on, too, that this huge undertaking will in fact be a beautiful experience for those who attend and that the faith of thousands of young people will be enriched and inspired. Traditionally, World Youth Day has been a “big bang” of marriages, vocations, conversions, faith-filled encounters, etc. Lisbon wants it to be no different. 

The following day, at the nervecenter of World Youth Day, the organizing headquarters, the place was abuzz. Young people rushed up and down the corridor. But everyone was smiling and in great spirits, admirable amid the scale of the event this team has undertaken to put on. 

The volunteers running around seemed to all be in their 20s and 30s. In a room filled with volunteers on laptops, a communications contact said the volunteers were helping young people from around the world with travel inquiries, visa information, accommodation advice, etc.

The man in charge of the entire project is Bishop Américo Aguiar. 

Despite the fact there is so much on his plate right now, with a million things still to organize and a ticking countdown clock, he was very generous and gracious with his time. Sitting down for the interview, he joked about the lack of Portuguese (“no Portuguese”); through a translator, he expressed his feelings ahead of the event. “When you think about it, it’s like a defibrillator to the heart. It gives you that shock!” he said. “But we are really excited to welcome young people from all over the world for their meeting with Pope Francis and, above all, their meeting with the living Christ. That is what we are looking forward to!” 

When asked about his meetings with Pope Francis and what the Pope has expressed to him in terms of his hopes and desires for the event, he replied, “Pope Francis has a lot of expectations for World Youth Day. It’s almost like a watershed moment. To think of everything that has happened since the last World Youth Day: the pandemic, economic crises, the war, and so on. The Pope really desires for the young people to experience the culture of encounter. It’s important that we encourage young people to be there for each other, to care for each other, to love each other — to help us all to be better people. We want everyone to have a spiritual encounter when they come to Lisbon.”

Almost everywhere in Lisbon, and among almost everyone, there is enthusiasm about World Youth Day in Lisbon. Among almost everyone. There have been some Portuguese speaking out against the city hosting the event. One of the main reasons is because of the sexual-abuse scandals that have hit the country in recent years; other reasons center around if the city is physically able to cope with all of the people who will come for WYD. For example, where is everyone going to stay? The city doesn’t have enough hotel rooms, and the ones that are still available are charging enormous amounts. 

Mayor Carlos Moedas of Lisbon, discussed some of these logistical concerns at City Hall, which features decorative ceilings, paintings and statues. 

When asked about the concerns with accommodating the pilgrims, he smiled and said, “My message to young people is, Just come! We’ll figure it out when you get here! Just come, and we’ll find a solution.” 

“You know, hopefully you won’t be sleeping on the streets, but we will find a way,” he joked, clearly not worried, referencing how, as in previous World Youth Days, thousands of beds are being made available in people’s homes and other locations.

“The thing you need to know about the Portuguese people is that they love to host,” the mayor said. “They love having people in their homes.” 

In the interview, he underscored the importance of WYD to the city of Lisbon and the country of Portugal: “Young people have so many worries and anxieties in the world today. This is going to be such a great opportunity for Lisbon to bring them together to support each other.” 

This great opportunity comes at a cost of approximately 160 million euro, of which around 36 million is being funded by the Portuguese government. 

When it was revealed that the cost of constructing the large stage, which is to be the altar for the Pope’s final Mass, would cost 5.5 million euro alone, there was an outcry from the public.

The mayor admitted the costs needed to be reined in, so he personally took charge of overseeing the city’s expenditure of the event. This resulted in some reductions, such as the cost of the stage for the final Mass being reduced to 2.9 million. Both the bishop and the mayor took a realistic approach in acknowledging the costs had become too high.

Cardinal-elect Aguiar said, “The reality is everything costs a lot of money: the stage, the logistics, everything. But this is something that the Church believes in and the Portuguese state believes in.” 

The mayor, having to justify the expense to his government, and ultimately the Portuguese people, said the spending is very little when weighed against the marketing and economic return. “For six days, through your TV network [EWTN] and others, the whole world will be seeing Lisbon. Also think, if there are say 1 million people here for the week and they each spent 100 euro, although I think they will spend much more, that’s 100 million euro. There is nothing that can compare. It’s a huge economic return for the city.” 

In terms of the cost of the papal stage, he said, “Yes, the stage is costing a lot of money, but that’s the price! It’s not expensive when you think of the scale of the event. There will be nothing we can repeat in our lifetime that will compare to this.”

Of course, the ultimate return at World Youth Day will be something one can’t put a price on: up to 1.5 million young Catholics having an encounter with Pope Francis — and with Jesus Christ. 

As Bishop Aguiar put it, “We live in a very strange time. The Pope wants young people to ask the question, ‘What kind of future do we want?’ We’re asking young people to be dreamers and build a new future.”

The entire week will culminate with Pope Francis celebrating Mass in Tejo Park, just north of the city. This was a disused area that the WYD committee transformed into a beautiful green area with the stage. After WYD, the 60 hectares of green space will be donated to the city to use as a general park and recreation area, and the stage will remain in place, available for future events. 

As young Lisbon native Mariana Avila advised pilgrims, be prepared to walk, since Lisbon is built on seven hills. Avila offered a tour of the city one warm afternoon. 

Accompanying the television crew, she showed off the beautiful narrow streets of the city, as well as the city’s famous yellow tram, whose charming bell and mechanical clanking can be hear all over the city. 

“Only tourists take these,” Avila joked. 

The young people at the Catholic parish center encourage young people to attend the first week of August. As one woman said, “When life becomes hard, you’ll be able to think back to this time and the feeling you had when you were here: that feeling of being accompanied and that you’re not alone.”

Another young woman chimed in, saying, post-WYD, people will know who attended. “People will see it on your face. Your family, your neighbors, they will see Christ in your face.” 

As one young man finished the conversation, “Christ said: If you want to follow me, pick up your cross and follow me. So follow him! If he says go to Portugal, then go to Portugal!”