Over one thousand youth from all over Europe will arrive in Genoa in the week from 5 to 11 July. The most numerous group will be that of the Ukrainians, some 700 of them. They will be joined by numerous Poles, Slovaks, Serbs, Montenegrins, Russians, Romanians, Portuguese, Austrians, Belgians, Germans and Finns. The youngsters will be provided with accommodation in parishes, church halls, schools and similar structures, as well as with the families who gladly accepted the invitation made to them a few months ago by the diocesan office of youth ministry. The youth meeting explain pastoral leaders in the diocese of Genoa is “a way of bringing home to young people from all over Europe the Christian faith of the city, the religious traditions of its inhabitants, and familiarizing them with the artistic, cultural and spiritual wonders of Genoa”. In particular, the invitation to come to the city was especially addressed to the youth of Eastern Europe, who have less opportunity to participate in international events of this kind. On this occasion, the accord between the Italian Foreign Ministry and the Holy See to favour pilgrimages was applied for the first time to an event-taking place outside Rome. But this is not the first time that Genoa is hosting youth from abroad: in the Jubilee year, numerous girls and boys were hosted in the Ligurian city before participating in World Youth Day 2000 in Rome.
