BOSTON -- From July 28 to Aug. 3, the Vatican will celebrate the Jubilee of Youth, part of the 2025 Jubilee Year "Pilgrims of Hope." During that Jubilee, over 500 people from the Archdiocese of Boston, primarily youth and young adults, will be on a pilgrimage to Rome, which will last from July 26 to Aug. 8.

The pilgrims will join hundreds of thousands of other young people from around the world for a prayer vigil Aug. 2 and Mass the following day celebrated by Pope Leo XIV on the grounds of the University of Rome Tor Vergata.

As the pilgrim groups prepared to depart in the last week of July, Archbishop Richard G. Henning celebrated a special Mass for them at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on July 19.

Over 1,000 people, many of them pilgrims and their families, attended. The Mass also celebrated the ninth anniversary of the death of Servant of God Carmen Hernandez, co-initiator of the Neocatechumenal Way. The Neocatechumenal Way provided music for the Mass in its signature style. During the opening procession, the sanctuary was filled with the sound of 1,000 people clapping to the beat of the "Song of Abraham" as guitars, violins, and drums played.

In his homily, Archbishop Henning recalled his own pilgrimage six years ago, when he and 20 other bishops met with Pope Francis. The pope told the bishops that they must be close with the Lord, their flocks, their fellow bishops, and the poor. He asked the bishops if they agreed, and Archbishop Henning said he did not. The pope's expression was one of shock. The archbishop explained that the pope forgot to mention the closeness that the bishops felt to the Holy Father.

"Even though I disagreed, I didn't get in trouble," Archbishop Henning said. "He wasn't angry. He understood the affection with which I said those words to him."

He said that Carmen Hernandez lived her life with that same closeness to Jesus.

"If you look at her story of discipleship," he said, "it is a story of closeness to the Lord Jesus, but just as much a story of friendship with others, of the faith and the richness that flowed from those relationships, not only for her, but for so many others, countless others, for you yourselves here tonight."

Later in his homily, he spoke directly to the pilgrims. He shared with them an old expression, a piece of advice for pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land: "If you don't already know Jesus when you go, you're not going to meet him there."

He admitted the expression may seem strange, when the point of going on a pilgrimage is getting to know Jesus.

"The wisdom of this expression is, don't wait until you get to your pilgrimage to know the grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus, for it is available, it is overflowing for you here and now, certainly at this altar, my body, my blood, given for you," he said. "You don't need to actually go to Rome to know that truth. He's here at this altar, every one of your parish altars. The Lord Jesus pours himself out, overflowing with love."

He said that his "prayer for our young people" is that they will open their hearts to Jesus before they go on the pilgrimage.

"When you make that journey of crossing the Atlantic, when you walk through those stony streets, and you go into those magnificent churches, the person you meet there is already your friend," he said.

At the conclusion of the Mass, the hundreds of pilgrims came before the altar to receive a blessing from the archbishop. He told them to look at the assembly behind them.

"These are the communities that will be praying for you as you make your pilgrimage," he said.

He told them to remember their family and friends in their parishes, and the debt owed to them for their witness of faith.

"Make sure as they pray for you, that you will pray for them," he said.

He told the pilgrims to look at each other, and said that the Lord has given them as companions to one another on the pilgrimage. Finally, he told them to look toward the cross for guidance. The Neocatechumenal Way presented Archbishop Henning with a t-shirt of the pilgrimage and two books about Servant of God Hernandez.

When asked what they were looking forward to the most, the pilgrims The Pilot spoke to after Mass were unanimous: Seeing Pope Leo XIV.

"I'm very excited to see the pope," said Yamiguelis Rodriguez, 18, of East Boston. "And obviously, to find God. I'm very open. I want to go with an open heart, open ears to see if I can truly find God."

"I'm very open to see what God has for me as a vocation," she said.

Her 13-year-old sister Sinai also wanted to find her vocation, as did 23-year-old Danayelis Rodriguez.

"I want to know what the Lord wants for me, probably be a nun or just have a big family," Rodriguez said.

Richard Montes, 36, wants to see what God has in store for him on the pilgrimage.

"I'm looking forward to having an experience, to feel in communion with God," he said. "I'm looking for hope, and I'm interested in the theme of the Jubilee. This is the Jubilee Year, and our debts are forgiven, and that's something that I'm looking forward to experiencing."