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The theme is 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God'

As young people around the world look forward to next year’s World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland, Pope Francis has issued a message for World Youth Day 2015, which will be celebrated locally in dioceses on Palm Sunday, March 29, 2015. The theme is ‘"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Mt. 5:8).

Pope Francis’ message said, in part:

This year’s World Youth Day begins the final stage of preparations for the great gathering of young people from around the world in Krakow in 2016. Thirty years ago Saint John Paul II instituted World Youth Days in the Church. This pilgrimage of young people from every continent under the guidance of the Successor of Peter has truly been a providential and prophetic initiative. Together let us thank the Lord for the precious fruits which these World Youth Days have produced in the lives of countless young people in every part of the globe! How many amazing discoveries have been made, especially the discovery that Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life! How many people have realized that the Church is a big and welcoming family! How many conversions, how many vocations have these gatherings produced! May the saintly Pope, the Patron of World Youth Day, intercede on behalf of our pilgrimage toward his beloved Krakow. And may the maternal gaze of the Blessed Virgin Mary, full of grace, all-beautiful and all-pure, accompany us at every step along the way.

Read the pope’s entire message here.

Visit the official World Youth Day 2016 site here.

The USCCB has information here.