World Youth Day 2019 opened Jan. 22 in Panama City, Panama. Over 150,000 registered for the event, which ran until Jan. 27. This year's event conflicted with the American school year. As a result, the Diocese of Buffalo did not plan a pilgrimage to the Central American city.

PANAMA CITY, Panama - Pope Francis celebrated the closing Mass of World Youth Day 2019 on Sunday, Jan. 27.

Plans are underway for a pilgrimage to Panama for World Youth Day 2019. Father Michael LaMarca will lead a group to Central America in January 2019 for the spiritual event. Due to the winter dates, there will be no diocesan pilgrimage from the Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, who have organized trips to Denver, Paris, Toronto, Cologne and Krakow in past years.

Plans are underway for a pilgrimage to Panama for World Youth Day 2019. Father Michael LaMarca will lead a group to Central America in January 2019 for the spiritual event. Due to the winter dates, there will be no diocesan pilgrimage from the Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, who have organized trips to Denver, Paris, Toronto, Cologne and Krakow in past years.

WASHINGTON - The following statement has been issued by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap., and Bishop Frank J. Caggiano in response to Pope Francis' call to begin preparations for the international World Youth Day (WYD) being held in Panama in 2019.

The World Youth Day pilgrimage to Krakow, Poland, saw nearly 2.5 million people from across the world join in communion with each other. They shared Mass and catechesis. They sang and prayed together. They made friends and learned about foreign cultures.

The thrill of World Youth Day needs to continue in our parishes. Bishop Richard J. Malone encourages parishes to continue the spiritual journey in this week's "Consider This."

Saints... you can sense their influence, in a mysterious way even their presence, everywhere in Kraków. St. John Paul II and St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, of course, are prominent. Then there is the cell at Auschwitz that memorializes St. Maximilian Kolbe, who gave his life so that another prisoner could live. Today I offered catechesis and celebrated Eucharist with hundreds of pilgrims from Ireland in a parish church dedicated to the great St. Casimir.

ZAKOPANE, POLAND - Bishop Richard J. Malone once again met up with diocesan pilgrims who flew to Poland for World Youth Day. Although much of the bishop's time in Poland was spent at catechesis sessions for other dioceses, he managed to meet up with pilgrims from Buffalo on several occasions.

KRAKOW, POLAND - As the sun rose over Krakow's Field of Mercy, over 2 million people woke up in anticipation of Mass with Pope Francis. The current pontiff, following in the footsteps of his predecessors St. John Paul II and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, celebrated Sunday Mass on the closing day of World Youth Day.

KRAKOW, POLAND (CNA/EWTN News) - Pope Francis challenged massive crowds of young people at World Youth Day's final vigil to step away from the "sofa" of comfort and convenience, and respond to Christ's call to transform a suffering world.

KRAKOW, Poland — Early in the morning of Saturday, July 30, the seventh early morning of the week, nearly 150 pilgrims from the Diocese of Buffalo walked on foot to see Pope Francis.

KRAKOW, POLAND (CNA/EWTN News) - Pope Francis paid a solemn visit to the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps on Friday, where over a million people are believed to have lost their lives. At the memorials, he gave no speech and prayed in silence, but instead wrote in the guest book two simple lines begging for God's mercy and forgiveness.

KRAKOW, POLAND - Poland has a lot to offer Catholic pilgrims looking for history and stories associated with their, and other, faiths.

CZESTOCHOWA, POLAND (CNA/EWTN News) - Those who embrace their own littleness become the "spokespersons" of God, Pope Francis said during Mass at the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, celebrating the 1050 anniversary of Poland becoming a Christian nation. It was the first major event of the Pope's trip to the country for the 31st World Youth Day.

About 200 pilgrims from the Diocese of Buffalo are currently attending World Youth Day 2016 in Krakow, Poland, and so are we. Staff reporter Patrick J. Buechi is documenting the journey of these local Catholics, and you can see it for yourself in our new photo gallery.

KRAKOW, POLAND (CNA/EWTN News) - On his first night in Krakow Pope Francis was already stirring things up with participants in WYD by hosting an off-the-cuff Q and A and telling them to 'make chaos' by spreading the joy of their faith.

KRAKOW, POLAND - The Tauron Arena in Krakow, Poland, hosted cardinals, singers, theologians and pilgrims as it became Mercy Center, a main site for World Youth Day 2016.

KRAKOW, POLAND - World Youth Day 2016 officially kicked off Tuesday, July 26, at 6 p.m., with a welcoming Mass by the shepherd of Krakow, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz.

Laura Szczepankiewicz came to Krakow to meet as many people as she could. And she has the photographic proof to show she met her goal.

KRAKOW, POLAND - On Sunday, July 24, World Youth Day pilgrims got as close as they could to a full night's sleep before heading out at 8 a.m. to Czestochowa, Poland to visit the Jasna Góra Monastery and shrine.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - Pope Francis has asked for prayers as he, and all the pilgrims attending this year's World Youth Day, prepare to make their way to Krakow, Poland for the international event.

While pilgrims are in Poland celebrating with the pope, locals will be doing the same at the seminary.

"We have an exciting journey ahead of us," said Bishop Richard J. Malone to some of the 200 local pilgrims who are headed for World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland. During a send-off Mass Friday afternoon at Our Lady of Victory Basilica, the bishop said "I ask you to keep in mind one simple truth. The experience we're sharing is all about Jesus."

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - Even though World Youth Day doesn't start until next week, thousands of pilgrims from throughout the world are already descending on Krakow ahead of the official event.

VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) - Though rumors have been floating for some time, the Vatican confirmed that the Pope will meet with 10 Holocaust survivors during his upcoming visit to Auschwitz while in Poland for World Youth Day.

Christian pilgrimages began as a following in the footsteps of Jesus. Today, the term is used to describe a journey to a religious shrine for the purpose of strengthening one's faith. A pilgrim, therefore, is a person who travels to grow in his or her faith, experience the faith, and often, to share one's faith.

WASHINGTON - More than 40,000 Americans are registered to attend World Youth Day (WYD), July 26-31, in Krakow, Poland. To assist this record breaking number of participants from the United States, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth has lined up a series of resources and a variety of digital platforms to engage youth and young adults at home and abroad.