Vera Brás, 18, a volunteer at World Youth Day, is driven not only by faith, but also by "really enjoying helping and being on the work side, the organisational side." She believes that "the atmosphere will be worthwhile for anyone who wants to participate, because of the issues that unite us all."
This young woman has been connected to the Parish of Nossa Senhora da Graça in Tires since the age of six and will experience WYD for the first time. She will be organising the overnight accommodation for pilgrims who are not going to host families.
In her case, and for many others, during WYD week she will be preparing breakfasts, cleaning, organising and supervising the area within the 1st May Pavilion in Tires, but it could be in a school or sports complex. The volunteer work started some time ago. She has been receiving online training on the WYD platform since December. It is important to know how to interact with pilgrims, especially in the case of people with disabilities. More recently, just over a week before the event, she took part in the "Missionary Gesture", in which volunteers visited people deprived of their liberty and unable to go outside - such as in Tires prison - to pray and spread the WYD spirit.
"The spirit is one of sharing, of joy for the union, for Jesus Christ and for His cause," says Vera. She believes that even if the element of faith is removed from WYD, it is an "event that brings together thousands of young people from all over the world in the same city and that alone is amazing.”
She recognises that seeing the Holy Father on his 3 August visit to Cascais will be adifficult mission, but "I would like the Pope to get the idea that young Portuguese are willing to participate and that they want to build a modern church linked to the new times."