41 young people are about to embark on a pilgrimage of a lifetime with 4 Capuchin friars to World Youth Day 2016 in Krakow. The 45 pilgrims will leave on Friday and head first to Rome, then on to Assisi, pass through Florence and then up to Padua and Venice. They will stopover in Vienna on the way to the International gathering of young people with the Pope in Krakow – which is expected to draw together 3-4 million young people from all over the world.

Our pilgrimage will be a chance for our young people to come to know better the lives of St Francis of Assisi, St Clare and other Capuchin and Franciscan saints before reaching Poland. Many of them have already been formed spiritually in the Capuchin charism through formation and through assisting the friars in ministry to the poor and marginalised in our various presences around Australia.

The pilgrims come from Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane, and include Berni who is a full-time volunteer with the friars in Timore Leste.

Please keep the pilgrims in your prayers as a pilgrimage like this has the potential for changing people’s lives. The photos shown here are from some of the formation and preparation sessions in the lead up to the pilgrimage.

Keep up to date with all adventures of the Capuchin World Youth Day pilgrimage with this website/blog! Also, keep an eye out for our Facebook updates and hashtags: #CapuchinWYD