Pretoria, 01 February, 2020 / 4:45 am (ACI Africa).
As youths around the world prepare for the next World Youth Day to be held in Portugal in 2022, Church leaders in Botswana, Eswatini, and South Africa have “approved in principle” the plan to have a Mini World Youth Day (MWYD) proposed for December 2020 in Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa.
In a statement signed by the Liaison Bishop for Youth in the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), Stanisław Jan Dziuba and SACBC Youth Chaplain, Fr. Mthembeni Dlamini, the leaders indicate that the event was approved by the Bishops during their ongoing Plenary Assembly.
“The bishops at the Plenary 2020 on the 25th January approved in principle the proposal by the Department for Formation, Life and Apostolate of the Laity – Youth Office to have another Mini World Youth Day,” the statement availed to ACI Africa reads in part.
“We are grateful to the Bishops of the SACBC for granting another chance for this Pilgrimage to take place. We are mandated to start direct preparations,” the two Church leaders spearheading MWYD note and add in their collective statement, “This is an opportunity for us to come and put into practice the words of Jesus when he commanded us to Love one another.”
The leaders stipulate, in their January 28 statement, five goals of the nine-day event set to begin on December 5.