Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI
Wednesday, 23 July 2025
Cairo (Agenzia Fides) – At least 225 young Egyptian Catholics are currently preparing to travel to Rome to take part in the World Youth Day (WYD) in the Eternal City, celebrated this year during the Holy Year dedicated to Hope. These young people belong to the various Catholic ecclesial communities present in the country, including the “small flock” represented by the local Greek-Melkite Catholic Church. “Our preparation for the days in Rome,” Bishop Jean-Marie Chami, Greek-Melkite Patriarchal Vicar General for Egypt, Sudan, and South Sudan, told Fides, “can be said to have begun with participation in the previous WYD in Lisbon, and has never stopped. The experience lived during those days must then be ‘internalized’ into the ordinariness of one’s daily journey. For young people, WYDs are precious opportunities to experience communion in the universal Church, following Jesus, in the footsteps of the disciples,” added Bishop Chami.Participation in the Jubilee of Youth, which will be held in Rome from July 28 to August 3, is part of a true spiritual journey that passes through other places linked to the events and figures of Italian saints: Saint Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo, Saint Francis and Saint Clare in Assisi, and the young Carlo Acutis. Once in Rome, the youth from Egypt will also have the opportunity to venerate the apostolic memories of Saints Peter and Paul.The “Egyptian” group of 58 young men and women belonging to the Greek Melkite Church also includes some young people from Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. “The universal Church is much larger than our small reality. In Rome, we will visit the places of those who, after Pentecost, set out to proclaim Salvation in Jesus Christ to all. The journey is meant to be a spiritual experience deeply inspired by the places of those who preceded us. Daily Eucharist and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will be the center of our days,” explains Bishop Chomi.In Egypt, the group of young people preparing for the pilgrimage met once a month for the Eucharistic celebration and to share in gatherings focused on the theological virtue of Hope. The week they will spend in Rome together with young people from around the world will conclude on Saturday evening with the vigil with Pope Leo XIV, followed by the solemn Eucharistic celebration presided over by the Pope on Sunday, August 3.The presence of the Greek-Melkite Catholic Church in Egypt has been established since the 18th century. Lebanese, Syrians, and Palestinians moved to the country after the union between the Church of Rome and this Byzantine-rite Church (which took place in 1724), drawn by work opportunities and bringing with them their spirituality and liturgical traditions. In 1838, the Melkite Patriarchate established a Patriarchal Vicariate for Egypt based in Cairo and directly under the authority of the Patriarch of Antioch. The Vicariate also includes the Melkite faithful of Sudan and South Sudan. Today, there are Greek-Melkite parishes in Cairo (in Heliopolis, Shoubra, and Maadi), Alexandria, Tanta, and Mansoura. The local Greek Melkite Catholic community also runs numerous pastoral, educational, and social initiatives. (PR) (Agenzia Fides, 23/7/2025)
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