By Agnes Aineah
ACI Africa, Jul 25, 2025 /
07:00 am
Over 200 young people from Tanzania are traveling to Rome as pilgrims to the Jubilee of Youth, an event that is part of the ongoing 2025 Jubilee Year. It is a huge number, coming from Africa, where denied visa applications have blocked many youth from participating in the global July 28 to Aug. 3 event.
Father Liston Lukoo, head of the Youth Department of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC), told ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, that excitement is high among those set to travel to Rome for the event.
For many, this is the first time they are setting foot outside their native country, he said. But their biggest anticipation is to visit the Vatican, and if fortunate, shake hands with the new pontiff, Pope Leo XIV.
Asked to describe the mood of those participating in the Vatican pilgrimage, Lukoo said: “Everyone is extremely excited.”
“This is the first time many of these young people are going outside the country,” Lukoo said. “And as you can imagine, going to the Vatican is another story for them. Their biggest excitement, however, is going to shake the hand of the Holy Father Pope Leo XIV.”
The Tanzanian priest gave credit to the Catholic bishops in the East African nation for their mobilization efforts that saw a huge number of young people express their interest to travel to the Vatican for the Jubilee of Youth.
He said that once the event was announced in the TEC plenary assembly, each bishop returned to his diocese and embarked on mobilizing the youth.
Those linked with TEC alone are 54 pilgrims. But other Tanzanian pilgrims have registered to participate through Church groups, individual dioceses and parishes, and even Catholic institutions of learning.
Lukoo is sure that those traveling could exceed 200 — “perhaps 350,” he told ACI Africa.
“We thank God that this year we have a very big number. These 54 [are] just a group, which has been organized by the TEC as a reference point. But we have also a group of about 30 young people traveling from the Archdiocese of Dar es Salaam. We have a group of about 27 volunteers traveling,” the head of the TEC’s Youth Department said.
He added: “There is also a group of about 80 youths representing a lay group. I am told that we have a group of about 10 young people from the Archdiocese of Tabora also traveling to Rome and many other people registered in various parts of Tanzania.”
Lukoo also spoke about various institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life in Tanzania who he said are making their own travel arrangements for their member pilgrims.
“We know of one Catholic school here that is sending 22 of its learners to represent the rest,” he said. “All this representation is why I confidently say that there could be over 300 young people traveling from Tanzania for the pilgrimage.”
On how the pilgrimage is funded, Lukoo said: “This has been more of an individual arrangement. But we also have dioceses and parishes that have done fundraising for their participants. The TEC youth office has also fully funded seven people for the pilgrimage.”
At Dar es Salaam-based TEC, preparation for the Jubilee of Youth in Rome has involved virtual meetings to pray for the success of the pilgrimage and to also get everything ready for participation, including travel documents.
Communication with the participants has been the biggest challenge for the TEC youth coordination office, Lukoo told ACI Africa, and explained: “It has been very difficult for us to pass messages owing to the complexities of our vast country.”
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“Coordination was extremely difficult and sometimes we had to send messages over and over to get people to know what had to be done,” he recalled, adding that the other challenge had to do with finances. Many young people struggled to pay for the trip.
“Some of the participants could not meet the financial demand until the last minute. This has been a very big problem for us because we couldn’t get things going until the last person had paid for the trip,” he said.
Lukoo went on to thank the Italian embassy in Tanzania for being “extremely supportive” to TEC and for ensuring that every young person who did his or her part went through the visa application successfully.
“We have had no single problem with the Italian embassy. Everyone who met their end of the deal has gotten their visas,” he said. “The only problem was that the embassy was overwhelmed by our large numbers. Over 200 interviews is not a joke. The embassy has organized interviews with our young people to this day [July 23] and we hope that this last lot will get their visas tomorrow.”
The biggest support to the young pilgrims, however, came from TEC, which provided technical and moral support to the participants.
The young pilgrims, Lukoo said, needed help in getting these documents to the relevant Vatican offices, in acquiring invitation letters, and all other visa application requirements.
TEC has also been journeying with the group spiritually. Lukoo said that some of those traveling, especially from the Archdiocese of Dar es Salaam, will have Mass on Friday, July 25, ahead of their departure for Rome on the same day.
“A large group from TEC will also accompany us to the airport and wave a hand of farewell and a safe journey to us,” the priest said.
He told ACI Africa that the entire group of 54 pilgrims from TEC will board one plane. “There will also be other groups on this plane,” he said. “It will be exciting to have a plane full of these Tanzanians, more than 100 of them.”
According to the official Jubilee of Youth website, several key activities have been confirmed. On Tuesday, July 29, at 6 p.m. local time, a welcome Mass is to be celebrated in St. Peter’s Square.
In the following days, Rome will host numerous cultural, artistic, and spiritual initiatives that are distributed throughout the capital city of Italy under the title “Dialogues with the City.”
Friday, Aug. 1, has been reserved as a Penitential Day, to be celebrated in the Circus Maximus, where pilgrims are to be able to receive the sacrament of penance.
On Saturday, Aug. 2, pilgrims are to move to Tor Vergata. And finally, on Sunday, Aug. 3, Pope Leo XIV is to preside over Mass at 9:30 a.m. before bidding farewell to the young pilgrims who are to return to their respective countries.
In the July 23 interview, Lukoo told ACI Africa that for young Tanzanians unable to participate in the Jubilee of Youth in Rome in person, the TEC Youth Department he heads has organized a series of congresses that they would benefit from locally.
Between June 7–12, the youth congress brought together 1,289 high school students who gathered in Tanzania’s Diocese of Shinyanga.
The next youth congress, scheduled for Aug. 19–24, is expected to bring together over 3,000 Young Catholic Workers in Tanzania who will gather in the country’s Archdiocese of Mbeya.
Thereafter will be the Dec. 26–31 congress, during which Catholic university students are to come together in Tanzania’s Diocese of Iringa.
This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.
Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a master of arts degree in digital journalism from the Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communications and a bachelor’s degree in linguistics, media, and communications from Kenya’s Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.
