In the serene mountains of Troodos, a meaningful gathering took place to prepare young people from across Cyprus for their upcoming pilgrimage to Italy for the Jubilee of Youth. Bishop Bruno Varriano, Patriarchal Vicar of Cyprus, led the meeting alongside Father Theodoros, Sister Rolly, and Sister Elizabeth, with the support of the youth coordinators of Cyprus and the St Barnabas group.
The day began with a celebratory mass, presided over by Bishop Bruno. Following the liturgy, the youth shared personal motivations and reflections about their upcoming journey — a spiritual pilgrimage that would take them to Assisi, Spoleto, Cascia, and eventually to the Holy Door in the Vatican to meet and pray with Pope Leo.
To mark the spiritual importance of this pilgrimage, Bishop Bruno addressed the young people with a powerful homily that invited them to understand the deeper meaning of their journey — not as tourists, but as true pilgrims seeking encounter and transformation. The bishop’s words served as a spiritual guide and source of encouragement for all who are preparing to embark on this sacred mission.
Homily by Bishop Bruno Varriano
Dear Young People
Brothers and Sisters
May the Lord give you peace!
We are very close to leaving for our pilgrimage (yes, pilgrimage, not tourism)… in two weeks we’ll be leaving for Italy.
Assisi, the birthplace of Saint Francis, the city of Spoleto, the city of Cascia, and then the beautiful and extraordinary experience of the Jubilee, the Jubilee of Youth, of passing through the Holy Door in the Vatican. To meet and pray with Pope Leo.
As we prepare to depart on our “pilgrimage” … sorry to insist.
We must understand what that means. Years ago I explained that the word pilgrimage means: “skin,” to put on skin… it is the most sensitive part of our body. So, to go on a pilgrimage means: to put oneself inside, to walk with all our skin, our senses, and all our strength…
But I’d like to draw your attention to something I hear every year: that we’re going to have an “experience”… A beautiful experience. But what does “to have an experience” mean? And here we must be careful. Having an “experience,” not an “experiment.”
For example: you experiment with a food. Experimenting with putting cheese in soup… or putting mayonnaise on pasta… it’s not good… And we are not going on our pilgrimage to “experiment”: what it’s like to sleep in a school, or what the food is like in Italy…
No… We are called to experience… experience is knowledge. Knowledge is knowing, knowing a person. It’s knowing Jesus… experiencing Jesus. It’s listening to and experiencing the words of Jesus, which Pope Leo XIV will pass on to us.
It’s experiencing being brothers and sisters. Sharing spaces, food, friendship, and above all, our faith… And we want to return from Italy, from Rome, from Assisi, not the same people, but different, changed.
If we experience God’s love, we will be different people. We will experience that God loves us, that Jesus wants to walk with us, that the Virgin Mary will be with us, with Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint Francis of Assisi, with Saint Rita.
The message is: That you will never be alone on the path of your lives…
I’m really curious to know: how will we return from Rome?
Today’s Gospel tells us that we must not be afraid… that God cares for us…
Dear young people, after this meeting, this beginning of our “experience,” we want to “depart”… As pilgrims… With our “skin”… and return to Cyprus with “experience”…
Recognizing the voice of Jesus… and repeating Jesus’ gestures… breaking the bread (the Eucharist), with more brothers and sisters among us, with more love.
And with the desire to proclaim to other young people: God truly loves us, Jesus is with us, and Mary Most Holy walks with us…
Amen.