On Thursday 14 November at the Pontifical Council for the Laity offices, we had our first working session with the Local Organising Committee for WYD 2016 in Krakow. During this very cordial meeting, the dicastery and the team from Poland identified the first steps to be taken together in the pastoral and logistical preparation for the next global meeting of Catholic youth. The delegation from Poland was led by Most Rev. Damian Muskus, auxiliary bishop of Krakow and bishop-in-charge of WYD 2016, and Bishop Henryk Tomasik, president of the Youth Commission of the Polish Bishops’ Conference. The team included Rev. Robert Tyrała, director of the Krakow Organising Committee and three other committee members. They were accompanied by Rev. Grzegorz Suchodolski, the director of the Polish Bishops’ Conference Youth Office.
The meeting took place soon after the theme chosen by Pope Francis for the Krakow World Youth Day was made public. It is “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Mt 5:7).