Excitement in Tanzania as Over 200 Youths Prepare for Jubilee of Youth in Rome

The Tanzanian Priest gives credit to the Catholic Bishops in the East African nation for their mobilization efforts that saw a huge number of young people express their interest to travel to the Vatican for the Youth Jubilee.

He said that once the event was announced in the TEC Plenary Assembly, each Bishop returned to his Episcopal See and embarked on mobilization of the youth.

Those linked with TEC alone are 54 pilgrims. But other Tanzanian pilgrims have registered to participate through Church groups, individual Dioceses and Parishes, and even Catholic institutions of learning.

Fr. Liston is sure that those travelling could exceed 200, “perhaps 350”, he has told ACI Africa.

“We thank God that this year we have a very big number. These 54 (are) just a group, which has been organized by the TEC as a reference point. But we have also a group of about 30 young people traveling from the Archdiocese of Dar es Salaam. We have a group of about 27 volunteers travelling,” the Head of the TEC’s Youth Department said.

He added, “There is also a group of about 80 youths representing a lay group. I am told that we have a group of about 10 young people from the Archdiocese of Tabora also travelling to Rome, and many other people registered in various parts of Tanzania.”

Fr. Liston also spoke about various Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (ICLSAL) in Tanzania who he said are making their own travel arrangements for their member pilgrims.

“We know of one Catholic School here that is sending 22 of its learners to represent the rest,” he said, and added, “All this representation is why I confidently say that they could be over 300 young people travelling from Tanzania for the pilgrimage.”

On how the pilgrimage is funded, Fr. Liston said, “This has been more of an individual arrangement. But we also have Dioceses and Parishes that have done fundraising for their participants. The TEC youth office has also fully funded seven people for the pilgrimage.”

At Dar es Salaam-based TEC, preparation for the Jubilee of Youth in Rome has involved virtual meetings to pray for the success of the pilgrimage, and to also get everything ready for participation, including travel documents.

Communication with the participants has been the biggest challenge for the TEC youth coordination office, Fr. Liston told ACI Africa, and explained, “It has been very difficult for us to pass messages owing to the complexities of our vast country.”

“Coordination was extremely difficult and sometimes we had to send messages over and over to get people to know what had to be done,” he recalled, adding that the other challenge was to do with finances. Many young people struggled to pay for the trip.

“Some of the participants could not meet the financial demand until the last minute. This has been a very big problem for us because we couldn’t get things going until the last person had paid for the trip,” he further shared.

Fr. Liston went on to thank the Italian embassy in Tanzania for being “extremely supportive” to TEC, and for ensuring that every young person who did their part went through the visa application successfully.

“We have had no single problem with the Italian embassy. Everyone who met their end of the deal has gotten their visas,” he said, and added, “The only problem was that the embassy was overwhelmed by our large numbers. Over 200 interviews is not a joke. The embassy has organized interviews with our young people to this day (July 23) and we hope that this last lot will get their visas tomorrow.”

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The biggest support to the young pilgrims, however, came from TEC, which provided technical and moral support to the participants.

Fr. Liston acknowledges that most of the pilgrims are leaving Tanzania for the first time in their lives. They therefore needed assistance in filling in forms for their travel documents, and TEC was there to journey with them.

The young pilgrims, he said, needed help in getting these documents to the relevant Vatican offices, in acquiring invitation letters, and all other visa application requirements.

TEC has also been journeying with the group spiritually. Fr. Liston said that some of those travelling, especially from the Catholic Archdiocese of Dar es Salaam, will have Holy Mass on Friday, July 25 ahead of their departure for Rome on the same day.

“A large group from TEC will also accompany us to the airport and wave a hand of farewell and a safe journey to us,” the Tanzanian Catholic Priest said.

He told ACI Africa that the entire group of 54 pilgrims from TEC will board one place. “There will also be other groups on this plane,” he said, and added, “It will be exciting to have a plane full of these Tanzanians, more than 100 of them.”

According to the official Jubilee of Youth website, several key activities have been confirmed. On Tuesday, July 29, at 6:00 p.m. (local time), a welcome Holy Mass is to be celebrated in St. Peter's Square.

In the following days, Rome will host numerous cultural, artistic and spiritual initiatives that are distributed throughout the capital city of Italy, under the title "Dialogues with the City".

Friday, August 1 has been reserved as a Penitential Day, to be celebrated in the Circus Maximus, where pilgrims are to be able to receive the Sacrament of Penance.

On Saturday, August 2, pilgrims are to move to Tor Vergata. And finally, on Sunday, August 3, Pope Leo XIV is to preside over Holy Mass at 9:30 a.m., before bidding farewell to the young pilgrims who are to return to their respective countries.

In the July 23 interview, Fr. Liston told ACI Africa that for young Tanzanians unable to participate in the Jubilee of Youth in Rome in person, the TEC Youth Department he heads has organized a series of Congresses that they would benefit from locally.

Between June 7-12, the youth Congress brought together 1,289 high school students who gathered in Tanzania’s Catholic Diocese of Shinyanga.

The next Youth Congress, slated for August 19-24, is expected to bring together over 3,000 Young Catholic Workers in Tanzania who will gather in the country’s Catholic Archdiocese of Mbeya.

Thereafter will be the December 26-31 Congress during which Catholic university students are to come together in Tanzania’s Diocese of Iringa.