VATICAN CITY (AP) — With no papal travels overseas this 12 months as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis is cheering efforts for a youth jamboree, historically attended by pontiffs, in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2023.

Francis on Sunday presided over a handover ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica involving younger folks gearing up for the subsequent World Youth Day, which pulls big crowds of Catholics from across the globe.

When Francis attended the final such occasion in Panama in 2019, organizers introduced that the subsequent jamboree could be held in Lisbon in 2022. However pandemic considerations postponed the occasion to August 2023.

Francis applauded after youths from Panama symbolically slid throughout the basilica’s ground a towering wood cross to counterparts from Portugal as a part of preparations for Lisbon.

“This is a vital step within the pilgrimage that can lead us to Lisbon in 2023,” the pope instructed the younger folks, a number of sporting hoodies or T-shirts emblazoned with the occasion’s icon.

No overseas journeys are at the moment scheduled for Francis, who final traveled abroad in November 2019 on a pilgrimage to Thailand and Japan.

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