Young pilgrims holding the World Youth Day Cross (AFP or licensors)
By Edoardo Giribaldi
Aug 8 2023
Matilde Trocado, the artistic director of Friday evening’s WYD Way of the Cross, highlights the youthful and contemporary approach that was imprinted on the 14 Stations, each of which focuses on a specific “fragility” of young people across the globe.
“Young people identified fragilities they lived and saw around them. For each Station, we’ll be praying for a specific fragility.”
Speaking with Vatican News’ Fr. Felipe Herrera, Matilde Trocado thus presented the World Youth Day’s Way of the Cross taking place on Friday on the Hill of Encounter at Eduardo VII Park.
Global consult
As the event’s artistic director, Ms. Trocado underlined the different approach adopted to plan the Via Crucis, starting from a “global consultation” that involved young people worldwide.
“It’s a youthful and, I think, contemporary approach,” Ms. Trocado affirmed, noting innovations in the staging of the event and the participation of 50 young people from 21 different countries.
Multicultural family
The group is called Ensemble23. “They applied, sent videos and did interviews,” the artistic director recounted. “And then they got here mid-June and started working.”
The collective rehearsed and worked together for six weeks. “It came to be a really interesting artistic and pastoral experience,” Ms. Trocado said. “They’re sort of like a family right now, but a really multicultural family, because you have people from every continent. It’s been wonderful.”
Fragilities and weaknesses
According to the event’s press release, the Way of the Cross’ meditations emerged as part of the “International Youth Advisory Body” of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, created after the 2018 Synod, whose theme was “Young people, faith and vocational discernment.”
The young people making up the Ensemble23 will carry the Cross and choreographically interpret the fragility associated with each Station.
Among the “fragilities” identified by young people worldwide, Ms. Trocado noted especially mental health, violence, solitude, and a concern about the destruction of Creation. – Vatican News
