Pope Francis has already expressed his intention to travel to Fátima during his stay in Portugal, but Duarte Ricciardi, executive secretary of the Local Organising Committee of the World Youth Day Lisbon 2023 (WYD Lisbon 2023) says he is officially unaware of any other papal initiative outside the World Youth Day.

“We do not have any information directly from the organisation, nor about other trips of the Pope during that time [when he is in Portugal], nor responsibility. In other words, our responsibility is on World Youth Day. We don't even know if the Pope, in fact, goes to Fátima, if he goes before the Jy, if he goes after, if he goes in the middle”.

Large numbers of people are expected to come out to see the Pope while he is in Portugal for WYD.

“This Pope is very universal and everyone will really want to see him and be able to be there. Events with the Pope are open. We have an organisation, obviously there is a flow of entries, but anyone who wants to see the Pope can come to the venue and see the Pope. This is what is planned, that all people who want to participate can participate”, says Duarte Ricciardi.

Initially scheduled for the summer of 2022, the initiative was postponed a year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The first edition took place in 1986, in Rome, and since then WYD has passed through Buenos Aires (Argentina, 1987), Santiago de Compostela (Spain, 1989), Czestochowa (Poland, 1991), Denver (United States, 1993), Manila (Philippines, 1995), Paris (France, 1997), Rome (Italy, 2000), Toronto (Canada, 2002), Cologne (Germany, 2005), Sydney (Australia, 2008), Madrid (Spain, 2011), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil, 2013), Krakow (Poland, 2016) and Panama City (Panama, 2019).